Baby Christopher

2008-11-02T15:37:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween!

This year, Christopher was a purple dragon for Halloween. He didn't seem to mind the costume and had fun trick-or-treating with all his cousins. Also, instead of sending out separate slideshows to people who want to buy some of the pictures, I started uploading them to this website http://familylavigne.shutterfly.com/ where it is just one step to share them in slideshows and they can be bought. But I'll keep posting some of my favorites on his blog so I can update too. There really isn't much new, I'm looking forward to Christmas already although it isn't Thanksgiving yet. Today Christopher got a little fish he seems to like. He REALLY liked the rabbit in the store but there's no way!

Ready to go!

Taking a break from trick or treating.

Running with his favorite cousin Jacob.

He likes to walk around in our shoes!

2008-09-24T18:27:00.000-07:00

Happy Fall!

To celebrate the start of the fall season, we went with some friends to farm where we could pick pumpkins and take Christopher on a hayride. He had a good time! Chris bought a big pumpkin he's going to carve and leave on our front porch.

Christopher is 15 months old now and is doing well. He is still pretty picky with eating dinner, so we give him plenty of food in the first part of the day. He likes waffles and eggs with lots of syrup for breakfast, and he actually loves the vegetable juice from V8 that also has fruit juice in it, so that's great. I've been making him banana bread with lots of banana which he likes also. But as far as plain old vegetables, not lately. He used to love them with meat and he's been refusing them lately. I ordered Deceptively Delicious which is a cookbook that gives you recipes that have lots of vegetables that kids like, so I hope to get some ideas from it.

School is very busy this semester for me, but it looks like I should be applying to internships next Fall. Below are some pictures from our pumpkin picking day. Have a good one!

Andrea

2008-09-02T05:59:00.000-07:00

Here's a few pictures from our visit to Chris' parents' new place a few weeks ago.

Christopher is doing a new trick grammy taught him, which is puckering his lips.

Here we're at my friend Deanna's BBQ

Not much new going on, school starts for me this week. My first class is Thursday. I'm eager to get the semester started and make progress towards graduation. I'll be taking comps in the spring which is a two-week period where you are given 4 questions to write papers about. I haven't finalized the topic areas I'll do my questions on yet, that's what I'm working on this semester. Its an extremely stressful process, I've run into people during those 2 weeks and they look really exhausted! It seems terrible! Then you also do the oral comps 2 weeks later. I look forward to getting them over with next spring.

Its been a pretty nice summer with lots of trips to the beach and the park. Christopher and I just got back from there where he had a playdate with his friend Jacob, whose mother was in my prenatal class. Yesterday, Chris and I were both off for labor day and took Christopher on an exciting adventure to Petsmart to look at the fish - its like the zoo to a one-year old! He liked the fish and birds.

Have a good week!
Andrea

2008-08-12T09:18:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, Christopher is now 14 months old and is doing great. I can't believe the summer is almost over but am actually looking forward to school starting. Below are some pictures of our first trip to the aquarium in Mystic. He seemed to like looking at the animals.

Here Chris was making him laugh during a snack. Lately he's been super picky with eating dinner, and sometimes lunch. It doesn't matter what it is, he has just been fighting eating. Hopefully its a short phase! The pediatrician said its common at this age for toddlers to start asserting their independence and refusing to do things they don't want to do!

2008-07-17T17:22:00.000-07:00

Sorry I'm not as good about posting lately! Christopher is doing great and is walking like a pro on his own. We're looking forward to spending a week at the beach in a couple weeks with Chris' parents, Christopher really likes the beach. We've gone a lot this summer and last time he held our hands and walked right on in the water to his waist!

What a doll... Christopher and his new friend, Andy.

Fascinated by his cousin's doll...

Chris took our nephew Jacob fishing for his birthday, good catch!

2008-07-03T16:21:00.000-07:00

Christopher has been up to a lot since I've last updated this site. The biggest thing is that he's now officially a toddler! He's walking for short periods of time alone, but much longer if you hold his hands. He can walk forever if you hold his hands, but alone I think he doubts himself. Below are a few pics from his first birthday party.

He liked his presents. This was a popper from grammy.

He loved being pulled around in his new wagon from grandma.

Here's his cake I made.

His first taste of cake, we discovered he has a real sweet tooth.

Yesterday we got back from going to a conference in D.C. for my work. We did some site seeing and while I was at the conference during the day, Chris & Christopher hung out at the hotel and went in the pool.

Chris & Christopher came down to visit me when I presented my poster. Here are a couple of other students that work for my boss.

Free Haagen-Daaz at the conference, he was in heaven!

2008-05-28T16:55:00.000-07:00

Lots of pictures to share!

Christopher enjoying his new slide, he closes his eyes and cracks up going down...

He likes trying on my sunglasses...

and helping empty the laundry basket...

a Mother's Day family photo...

Hanging out with grammy....

He likes getting pushed around his mini-bike...

Hanging out with grandpa...

More fun on the slide...

2008-05-21T07:30:00.000-07:00

Just a few pics of Christopher enjoying his new swingset!

2008-05-18T07:27:00.000-07:00

So last week was my first Mother's Day, it was wonderful! And this week starts my summer break from school. I decided not to work this summer beyond my clinicals at Butler Hospital so I can be home with Christopher almost every day. I'm really excited about the start of summer so we can enjoy the outside with Christopher, we have his swingset all set up that we got him for his birthday that's in a few weeks and he loves it.

This past week he wasn't feeling very well, its pretty easy to see it in his face :0(

When he wasn't feeling well, decided to take a break from playing and nap right on the spot. But the next day he was feeling better and the day after he was back to his old self. I didn't like seeing him sick but was happy to oblige to 24 straight hours of snuggling time :0)

Feeling better the next day and back to tearing up the living room!

2008-04-26T07:52:00.000-07:00

Christopher enjoyed his first trip to the zoo last week :0)

Christopher with his cousins.

2008-04-13T07:39:00.000-07:00

A few pics of the now 10-month old little guy. Already 10 months! He's doing great. He has several teeth, and more coming very soon.

We're all ready to go to the beach as soon as its warm enough...

He loves it when daddy swings him in the air..,

He loves reading books...

Ready for bed...

Making the food for the week...

and napping after a nice long walk.

2008-04-03T18:24:00.000-07:00

Just a few swimming pics from last week with my friend Steph and her son Quinn, who is about 6 months older than Christopher. He always has a great time swimming and kicking away!

2008-03-30T18:13:00.000-07:00

He found future uncle Mike's story very interesting...

Here is a better view of his Easter blue velvet outfit.

After his first carousel ride, we just stood holding a pole while it went around but he seemed pretty interested!

2008-03-27T19:07:00.000-07:00

9 month photos

Just thought I'd post previews of his 9 month photos, the quality might not be great because they are just proofs. Christopher had his dr. appointment last week and is doing great, he's at 19.5 pounds and his next 3 teeth are ready to come out anytime now!

2008-03-23T17:56:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter!

Christopher enjoyed his firs Easter (despite the crushed blue velvet jumper I made him wear) as he ate turkey with the family at the dinner table. Below is a clip of him standing on his own for a bit and cruising the other day, its so great to see him do these things fo the first time.

2008-03-20T18:04:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, not much to update on other than Christopher turned 9 months old last week, and got his first, second and third teeth this week! One on the bottom front and both top ones. Chris and I were on vacation this week and I greatly enjoyed the time home with both of them.

He's a pro at standing up.

One of his favorite toys. He closes the doors one by one, always the red one first!

Too many kisses from Grandma.

Have a great Easter!
Andrea

2008-03-06T18:04:00.000-08:00

Since it was a little warmer today we made a quick stop at the park. Christopher sure loves the swing, we're going to get one for the backyard once the weather gets nice :0)

2008-02-23T13:32:00.000-08:00

Lots of firsts!

In the past week, Christopher has had a lot of firsts. He started saying his first syllables, which are "ga ga" and "da da," and today was his first swimming trip! I held him tight until he was ready to venture out, and after only 15 minutes or so he was kicking and splashing a lot, he absolutely loved it!

Getting warmed up...

Starting to feel pretty comfortable...

Today with daddy.

Another first that happened this week was pulling himself to a stand. This is one of the first times he did it. After a couple times of doing this, he actually took a couple steps while standing by the couch!

2008-02-10T18:24:00.000-08:00

Congratulations, Lorie & Mike!

Yesterday my sister Lorie became engaged as she and Mike were leaving on a cruise! I've really got to be better about keeping my cell phone charged, I missed the call from her and now they're away for the week with no phone. I'm so excited for them, Mike is a great person and our family loves him!

To give you an update, Christopher's cold is just about over now, probably not long until the next one but he's got to build up immunity that way. I'm pretty sure his first tooth is going to appear any time now, he doesn't want to eat solids lately and I felt his gumline and its right about to come through.

This is my friend Suzanne who it was great to see today.

Hanging out with dad.

Have a great week,
Andrea

2008-02-04T12:15:00.000-08:00

First cold!

Just a week shy of being 8 months old, the inevitable has happened - Christopher's first cold! He's doing ok, even smiling some!

2008-01-29T18:00:00.000-08:00

Just an update that Christopher has had a great first 2 weeks of daycare, it is going great. Here he is taking a nap the other day :0)

2008-01-17T18:05:00.000-08:00

Now that the semester has started and I'm working again, Christopher has started his 2 days per week of daycare. Yesterday was his first day, but we've gone a couple of times with him during this past week and spent time there so he'd get used to the surroundings. I was pretty upset before dropping him off, and had been upset all week over it. But when we got there, I set up his cubby, his food and his crib and he seemed really comfortable and curious. He's crawling now (backwards only!) and he didn't stick by me, he took off and watched some of the babies and played with the toys. The women who worked there were really, really nice. Unfortunately they aren't the regular women who work in the infant room, they are just there temporarily, but I liked them a lot and they were attentive to all of the infants. I stuck around for a while but he was quite content, so I went and observed from the hallway window and yep... still content and playing. I left feeling really calm about the whole situation, that its only 2 short days a week and he'll probably benefit from being around other kids. I called after 2 hours and he had eaten all his food and they said he was a little fussy but fine when held. Then I called again later and they said a crying baby had woken him up only 30 minutes into his nap, so he was fussy but they were going to put him back to sleep. I couldn't believe they got him to sleep in the first place, that is amazing that he was so comfortable. I picked him up then and finished his nap at home, but the first day could not have gone better. I hear the first couple weeks are actually harder than the first day because that's when they realize you're going to leave them there, so we'll see how it goes. I feel comfortable with him there though, I know he's safe.

2008-01-16T15:26:00.000-08:00

Article on cloth diapers:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1702357,00.html#

Christopher uses bumGenius for the most part, except Chris actually prefers the tri-folds & covers. Cloth diapering is going great, they work better than disposables did for him and we don't need to use any creams - his skin is always perfect. I think they are great!

2008-01-12T14:31:00.000-08:00

Experimenting with feeding himself...

2008-01-02T06:22:00.000-08:00

I got this idea from another mom on the La Leche League, thought I'd share a summary of the past 6 months.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

2008-01-01T10:52:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

I hope you have a wonderful 2008. I am really looking forward to this year, having Christopher makes things so wonderful and interesting. He makes us laugh so much, we love to see what he's going to be doing next. I should try to catch it on video when he sticks his foot towards my face so I'll kiss it & wiggle his toes, it is so funny. He laughs and then up his foot goes so I'll do it again. And yesterday Chris noticed that he loves the coffee pot. He looks at it and giggles - he inherited Chris' appreciation for coffee I suppose. Lately he's been really working on crawling. He gets on his hands and knees (and sometimes his hands and feet) and wiggles around, but he ends up gliding backwards instead of forward. It looks like he'll get it any day now. Until then, when he gets me up every few hours I find him in that position practicing. Here is a pic of him working on it!

Andrea

2007-12-28T17:36:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd share his 6 month photo. Six months already!

2007-12-26T12:42:00.000-08:00

Hope you had a Merry Christmas!

Christopher is loving all the toys he got. He's so curious right now and likes studying his toys, he is very serious. He had his 6 month visit last week and is doing great. He is still in the 5oth percentile for weight & height, weighing 17.5 pouds. He's been on solid food for a couple of weeks but doesn't eat too much of them yet. I offer them a couple times a day, so far he likes mashed bananas the best. His diapers now that we have started solids stink!!

So we had a great first Christmas, Christopher had a great time with his grandparents, aunts & cousins. Hope yours was great as well!

Andrea

2007-12-09T16:48:00.000-08:00

Getting ready for Christmas...

I hope everyone's enjoying getting ready for the holidays!

Andrea

2007-11-17T09:31:00.000-08:00

A few pics...

2007-11-16T06:38:00.001-08:00

2007-11-12T09:01:00.000-08:00

Weekend in Philadelphia...

Last weekend, Chris and I went to a friend's wedding in Philadelphia. Lorie came along to be the nanny for the weekend and spend time with Christopher. I think he found the Liberty Bell boring.

The statute of Rocky really is at the Philadelphia Museum of Art!

Walking around downtown Philly getting some cheese steaks.

The weekend went great, Christopher had a great time hanging out with Lorie and she really cracks him up. Today he is 5 months old already, but if you count by weeks he's 5 1/2 months. So in a few weeks we'll be starting to introduce some solid food. He really watches us eat now, I think he's getting ready for them.

This weekend during a break from the drive, we ate at a diner and I was nursing Christopher there. I think I'm officially over my fear of nursing in public because a waitress actually came over with an opened-up paper napkin while I was nursing him and covered his face with it. I didn't get upset or embarassed though, I just took it off because he won't eat with anything covering him and just went on feeding him. Other than really ignorant instances like that, for the most part people are pretty mature about feeding your baby when you're out. Nobody looks at us from what I can tell. I think its just seen as weird because you don't see many women doing it in public (maybe because people try and cover you up with napkins!).

Hope you're having a nice holiday.

Andrea

2007-11-04T12:16:00.000-08:00

Heading out for an evening stroll... it was a little chilly out!

2007-10-31T16:34:00.000-07:00

"Trunk or Treat!"

So Christopher was an elephant for his first Halloween, and he made out pretty good candy-wise! We went to a few neighbor's houses and they enjoyed seeing him. Hope you had a nice Halloween and got lots of goodies - we didn't get a single trick-or-treater!

Andrea

2007-10-28T17:02:00.000-07:00

19 1/2 weeks

Cracking up with grandma.

Hanging out with his aunties.

I thought it was funny to catch him eyeing that cake in this photo, he's starting to get ready for solid foods as he watches us eat. Pretty soon, buddy!

2007-10-22T18:02:00.000-07:00

19 weeks old...

Giving cloth-diapering a try (I'm not very good at the folding, I don't think its supposed to go down to his knees!). The women on the La Leche league forum I'm on have given me lots of tips though.

Hanging out in one of his new diapers.

He LOVES standing! He can support himself for about 10 seconds or so. He is just dying to sit up, crawl, and just get moving in general.

He's also chomping away on anything he can!

Out for an evening stroll...

2007-10-19T18:43:00.000-07:00

"Someone get me outta here..."

He surprisingly doesn't mind being confined to this Bumbo thing, but I don't use it yet really because I think he's too young for it. They say it can be used as early as 3 months, but I won't use this until he can sit up independently because I don't like him slouching forward so much. When I tried him in it he let out a sigh and I was convinced he was short of breath from being hunched forward so I took him out immediately... probably not true. We're not ready for the sitting yet!

Last week was my 30th birthday and it was very nice. I thought about how I expected to be done with school with 3 children by the time I was 30... it used to seem really old to me. But I am so happy with where I am at and am loving motherhood and my family. I wouldn't change anything.

I'll try and post some more videos soon, those take a while to upload so its not as easy to find the time. Have a nice weekend!

Andrea

2007-10-14T18:20:00.000-07:00

4 months

Taking his tubbies for the night.

Enjoying his jumper Auntie Jenn got him.

Hi everyone,

These are a few pictures that Chris' parents took when they were here for the baptism. I like how these came out, you can really see his chubby thighs in his jumper!

He had his 4 month doctor's appointment and everything is great. She said I can start with rice cereal but I am not going to give him anything but breastmilk until he is six months old. He is a few ounces shy of 15 pounds, keeping him right at the 5o% percentile which he has been at for every visit since birth. I'm not sure how much stock I put into his height measurement, he was squirming around and they got 25 1/2 the first time then said that seemed high, so did it again and got 24 1/2 and said "that seems better so we'll keep that one." Not too scientific! He handled his shots ok, he only cried for a minute but seemed warm and uncomfortable that night and Tylenol seemed to help.

Have a nice week,
Andrea

2007-10-08T18:11:00.000-07:00

So in this week's Providence Journal we came across this article and I thought you might find it funny. Make sure and read the entire thing, and you can click on it (and any photo) to enlarge it.

How funny is that! Keep in mind Christopher's middle name is Michael :0)

2007-10-08T09:36:00.000-07:00

Sunday 10/7/2007
Christopher's Baptism

Below are a few pictures from Christopher's baptism ceremony yesterday. It was a wonderful day and we're so glad our families could be there!

Thanks to Christopher's godparents, Aunt Carol and Uncle Mike.

Christopher wore my baptism gown and some really cute satin shoes that were a gift from my mom.

Grammy & Grandpa Lavigne

Great-grandparents Lavigne

Thanks again to everyone for sharing in Christopher's day!

love, Andrea & Chris

2007-10-06T14:05:00.000-07:00

3 months, 3 weeks

He's got the bringing-toy-to-mouth thing down! Look at him sitting in his high chair already :0)

Even though his feet don't touch the bottom, he likes his entertainment center.

Yet another piece of baby equipment! He recently started to really enjoy his jumper.

Getting a bottle of breastmilk during his first (and hopefully last) nursing strike last week from Auntie Lorie. He went a couple days refusing to nurse (except at night), which put me in a panic because even with pumping, that much time without nursing could mess up your milk supply. Talked to lactation consultant & brought him to pediatrician and we figured out it's just because he is getting very curious and he gets to look around when drinking from a bottle. I switched to a very slow flowing bottle (a feeding takes almost an hour with it) so he wouldn't like it very much for the days I'm at school, and Chris started feeding him facing in so he can't look around. That worked immediately - he'll take the bottle but he doesn't prefer it.

Hanging on tight to Auntie Lorie

Also, big news today - he rolled over! He's been working on it for a couple weeks, and today he did it. It was so cute, he was really mustering up the energy and over he went. He adjusted his arms himself and hung out on his tummy for a while. Then we flipped him back over and he did it 3 more times, so he's got the hang of it. Chris had just gotten home from work 10 minutes before so he caught it but his parents pulled in literally 2 minutes after so they missed it, but, they got to see the next few times!

2007-09-27T17:49:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd post a few pictures & a link to that baby poll before they delete it, so you can see how you did. Lower points mean a better guess.

http://expectnet.com/game.php

He & Grammy matched... he wasn't happy about the extra outfit change!

But soon he was happy to be held by Grammy.

2007-09-24T18:09:00.000-07:00

These are from over 2 weeks ago, but I thought I'd put some pics up that Chris' parents took.

I think he looks more like me as a baby...

Our drooling, teething little man.

2007-09-23T16:56:00.000-07:00

3 1/2 months

Hi everyone, just thought I'd post a video of Christopher trying to roll over - he makes it halfway :0). Will update more soon.

love, Andrea

2007-09-18T14:43:00.000-07:00

3 month photos...

So we got Christopher's 3 month photos done... again. I had gotten them done a couple weeks ago at Walmart and I don't know why I went there, it was just lousy and they did a lousy job. The rug he sat on was dingy and the place smelled! And so did the worker! And they were no less expensive. They had this deal where the whole package was under $6, so I thought, great - except you get there and that package deal is only on the first photo, which I didn't like. So Chris and I went to Sears to get these done, I like them.

Not sure what other updates I can give except the nursing is going excellently. The pump works like a charm and feeding in public is fine, now that I don't try to cover his head with a blanket since he hates that. The visiting nurse of RI is coming tomorrow and will weigh him, I am guessing he weighs over 14 pounds now because he feels really heavy.

We're now trying him on Prevacid for his reflux since he is always spitting out the Zantac, which has to be given three times a day. Prevacid only needs to be given once a day so that will be better, and we mix it in with milk and he eats it right up. I read it takes a couple weeks to work fully, so we'll see if that does the trick more consistently than the Zantac.

Have a good one,
Andrea

2007-09-11T15:39:00.000-07:00

12 1/2 weeks...

Hi everyone,

Chris & I had Christopher's baptism class last night where we basically learned about the meaning of the sacrament and some history behind it. It was interesting. There were four other couples there, one of them had a little girl Christopher's age but the other two had tiny newborns and one couple didn't even give birth yet. Christopher was the only one who cried :0).

As I'm sure you know, we had to give our other boxer Oscar away while I was pregnant and so we decided to give him to a boxer rescue league. That way, someone who knows they want a boxer specifically can adopt one. Chris goes on the website every so often to hear about updates and there was one today. You can see he's very happy in his new home, and there is another boxer there who even looks like Molly. I'm not surprised that the owners look tired in the pictures with two boxers!!

Oscar's update: (you might have to cut & paste the link)

http://www.boxerbuddies.org/Now/oscar1AA.htm

Oh and my Lyme titer came back negative, so that's good. The doctor did say there are lots of false negatives because you have to have it for a long time before it will show up on the titer, so its good I took the antibiotics just in case.

One last update - Chris will no longer have to bring the baby to Providence for me to feed him during my clinical, I realized what was wrong with the pump: the stupid face plate was loose. I called Medela and they troubleshooted with me. One snap and it works incredible, I went from pumping an ounce per session in the past month to 8 ounces in 15 minutes while I was away yesterday, which is more than he even eats at a feeding. I'm a tad furious at myself for not calling them sooner. It would have saved a lot of worry, all this time I thought my milk supply was too low to pump out and that my milk supply would stop when I went to school. I was pumping three times a day to get it increased, getting up earlier than the baby did so I could pump while he slept - it was a nightmare. Oh well, its resolved now and thank goodness it works so well.

Have a great week,
Andrea

2007-09-01T08:14:00.000-07:00

11 weeks, 5 days

Hanging out with Curtis...

So its already September, I can't believe it! Its already time for school to start next week. I will be going back full-time but will be home with Christopher 5 days per week instead of working. Chris will be home with him the other two days, and so, the baby will get to be with just us until the Spring semester when he'll be almost 8 months old. We're very excited about that! By then, I feel like he will be at an age where there can actually be some benefit from 2 days of daycare per week. I had lunch with a friend last week who announced she is pregnant for the third time, and although her mother moved in with she and her husband, she continues to put her other two kids in daycare a couple days per week. She said they began to thrive when they were surrounded by all the other kids and wanted to do all the things they saw the other kids doing. So that was really nice to hear, that daycare is good for kids at a certain point and not something to dread. I think it will be fun for Christopher when he's 8 months to be in the infant room at the daycare near campus, he's already a sociable guy who prefers smiling at ladies!

I had my first day away from him last week, well, sort of away from him... I had an all-day orientation at Butler Hospital for a clinical I am doing there this year, and Chris was home. So I brought my pump, notified the instructor that I'd be taking breaks (she was so nice about it and went on about breastfeeding her babies! People really are understanding about this kind of thing) but when I tried to pump, I got nothing. I tried forever, virtually nothing came out. And so, despite having enough frozen milk to feed him for weeks at home, Chris had to meet me to feed the baby as I couldn't go 8 1/2 hours without draining my milk. They actually took a nice long walk around and waited so I could feed him a second time. So that didn't go too smoothly, but they had a nice day anyway because it was beautiful outside and Christopher loves going for walks. I had stopped pumping for a couple of weeks because it seemed like every hour I was either feeding or pumping, but I'm getting back to doing that now. He still eats all the time, so the two days I'm out I'll be managing one or two feedings with him per day - the pump just doesn't drain as well as he does.

Despite two nights last week where he slept until 5 a.m., he is back to the waking up at 2 a.m. I've been feeling really lousy this week and assumed it was just the sleep deprivation catching up with me, but based on my symptoms the doctor thinks I contracted Lyme disease. The titer comes back next week, but he said they often has false negatives, so I shouldn't wait for it and start the antibiotics now. Everything is fine with feeding the baby if that is in fact what I have, and the antibiotics are fine when used short-term, using them for months would cause a risk for teeth discoloration for the baby. I'm on it for two weeks which Chris said is safe.

One last update - Christopher and I went to church this morning and he really seemed to like it. He was in awe of the people singing and looking around the church. We are planning on taking his baptism class next week.

Happy Labor Day weekend!!

Andrea

2007-08-26T18:44:00.000-07:00

Grandpa Resendes

He says, "thanks for the blue eyes, grandpa"

2007-08-18T07:10:00.000-07:00

Christopher enjoying his nightly bath... I got a new tub because the one I had from Fisher Price was a real nightmare for the infant stage. You may have seen it around, its a very cute tub - it has this hammock with colorful fish on it. The hammock stage was great, but then when it was time for him to recline that tub just wasn't designed right. The seat was really shallow, so he slid down all the time and the seat was also positioned so high that even with the tub full, only his heels would touch the water! Anyhow, he likes this tub and if I put it over the sink like its designed for, it reclines a couple inches further and he's very comfy.

"Daddy, WHAT is that machine you're shooting at me?!"

2007-08-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd post another quick video of Christopher & I chatting, sorry if the quality isn't too great - I'm just holding the camera over my shoulder so I can't see what I'm taping!

2007-08-13T17:39:00.000-07:00

Showing off his first pair of sneakers my friend Jessica gave him!

Cousin Sophia

He's not ready to sit alone, even for a quick photo :0)

"Hey everybody"

Cousin Jacob

Auntie Jenn

2007-08-03T17:57:00.000-07:00

Sporting his new muscle shirt...

We went to Newport for the afternoon and toured the mansions with grammy & grandpa. He didn't want to be underdressed in such a fancy place, and so he opted for his green polo.

Christopher will be 8 weeks old next Tuesday, and so yesterday he had a doctor's appointment. He weighed 12 pounds and got his 2-month shots. I didn't think they would be much of a big deal, I knew he'd cry when he got them but I figured that he would be over it in a minute or so. And he was, he was upset with the shots but the pediatrician did them super fast and he was calm within a minute. Then as I left she said I could give him baby Tylenol for the next 24 hours if necessary, and I saw my calm sleeping baby and thought, naah - this guy is obviously much tougher than most babies, just look at him peacefully sleeping already! So we went to Babies R Us to pick up a sling but when he woke up he was really upset and crying. We got some baby Tylenol in the store and he was fine. He didn't sleep at all last night, even with the Tylenol, and he was pretty unhappy today too, poor little guy. Tonight he started to seem like he was feeling better, so hopefully tomorrow he's all better from his shots.

Hope you have a nice weekend and stay cool!

Andrea

2007-07-31T18:34:00.000-07:00

7 weeks

Our little guy is seven weeks old today, wow. He is sticking with his usual sleep routine but the past couple of days he hasn't been eating so great. Just not as much and more fussy when it comes time to eat. I wonder if he outgrew the dose of Zantac he is on for his acid reflux... we'll have to see. But he has enjoyed having Grandpa & Grammy here this week and going to the beach every evening for a walk or nap in the ocean breeze. Feeding him in public is a complete nightmare for me though, I really need to keep practicing because it makes me frantic - I have to manage to hold him with two hands while keeping some sort of blanket on me covering me up but still allowing me to see him. It doesn't work! So then he gets upset because I'm not holding him right and moves around, thus moving the cover off of him. I really hate feeding him in public. I know we'll get the swing of doing that eventually and it will end up being more convenient than bottle feeding because I won't have to make a bottle, but right now...oh my god!

Have a great week,
Andrea

July 26, 2007

2007-07-26T18:43:00.001-07:00

Chatting with mom!

2007-07-24T13:44:00.000-07:00

"You looking at me?"

Daddy cracks him up...

Our kitchen ceiling light fascinates him!

Today is Tuesday the 24th of July and so Christopher is six weeks old today. Its gone by fast and at the same time, it seems like longer than that, probably because even before he was born he was a big part of our lives with the pregnancy and the preparation! We were able to catch some smiles in the pictures, we even got a laughing session on video but I can't seem to upload it. I think its too large of a file, I'll have to figure that out.

The visiting nurse came today again and weighed him and he was just over 11 pounds and 1 ounce. So he is right on track. His eating is still every couple of hours during the day but in the evening, he starts the night out with a 6 hour stretch of sleep as of last week, then back to every 2-3 hours. Unfortunately for me this stretch starts at 8 p.m. and I can't fall asleep before 11:00, no matter how tired I am, so I still can't get more than 3 hours sleep at a time... but I'm excited he is sleeping longer and isn't confusing days and nights or anything.

The nurse said the same thing as the last time she was here which is that I should go to the breastfeeding support group and encourage other new moms who are having a tougher time. Although it is exhausting for me how frequently he eats during the day and being the only person to feed him all the time, we are very lucky Christopher is a good eater and is gaining a great amount of weight. I give a lot of credit to moms who breastfeed after doing it myself, it really is much harder than you would think!

Have a good week,
Andrea

2007-07-18T19:22:00.000-07:00

5 weeks, 1 day

Dinga Lorie

Great grandparents!

So today he is more than 5 weeks old now and is doing great. Chris and I are getting to know his personality and temperament - but just when we think we've started to get his schedule figured out, he likes to change things around and keep us on our toes! Some of the things he likes are baths and looking out the window or over our shoulders, being rocked in his nursery or on the swing outside and having his face and hair stroked. Of course, he loves being held and cuddled with and looking at some of his toys that have lights & sounds.

Also some big news... he started smiling this week. It hasn't happened very often, but it is definitely a real "social" smile as they say and not just him smiling to himself because his tummy is full (also very cute). I haven't been able to catch it on camera, but every so often he'll smile the biggest smile with his entire face and it almost seems like he's giggling, it is just great and I can't wait for him to do it again.

Talk to you soon,
Andrea

2007-07-09T18:18:00.000-07:00

3 weeks, 5 days old

Getting big already - hit 10 pounds last Friday at his doctor's appointment

Family photo from this weekend

Chatting with mom

Offered a pacifier this week for first time, before 3 weeks they say it can interfere with breastfeeding

Taking a nap in bed with me

Auntie Alyson visited from Arizona this weekend

Grandma Resendes helped with a bath

Have a great week,
love, us

2007-07-01T10:19:00.000-07:00

And the winner is...

The winner of the baby poll is Christine Fales, who is a friend of Chris and I from NH. She was very close on all areas, guessing 7 pounds 12 ounces, 20 inches, the ONLY one to guess the correct birthday, and that he would be born at 3 p.m. Good guesses!

The next runners up are Auntie Carol, Andrea Paiva, Jenn Doucett, Tracey Rocha and Grandma Lavigne. Chris was 9th and I was 19th :0(.

Here are a couple pictures from this week...

He makes the funniest faces when he stretches. He raises his eyebrows, sticks his head back and puckers his lips out. Its really funny to see.

He has had 2 regular baths and he really enjoyed them!

Andrea

2007-06-27T11:42:00.000-07:00

15 days old...

So our little guy is already 15 days old. The first two weeks went by very quickly, and not because we spent so much of them asleep! Christopher did, he's more alert now though. He has periods where he is alert for hours. He focuses on us when we talk to him briefly which is nice, and he looks over to the sound of one our voices sometimes.

Yesterday his umbilical cord stump fell off so today he will get his first real bath. I'm guessing it will not go very well if how he reacted to his sponge baths is any indication, but we'll see how it goes!

Also today a visiting nurse stopped by and weighed him and gave us pamphlets on things. Its a service the Dept. of Health pays for I guess. He weighed 8 pounds, 13 ounces today, so he has gained 1 pound and 6 ounces since being born, putting him at + 1 pound, 4 ounces over his birth weight. Like the pediatrician did, the nurse commented on how good this is as she expected him to have regained only the birth weight lost at 2 weeks of age. I can tell how he is bigger already when I hold him!

Below are a few pictures from this week.

Take care,
Andrea

2007-06-22T17:21:00.000-07:00

First week home...

Going for his first outing to the pediatrician at 3 days old. He lost only 2 ounces since being born which was lower than average. At his next appointment at 9 days old, he had gained 11 ounces which was higher than average, so the breastfeeding is going very well.

Taking a nap on the couch.

Hanging out with godmother Auntie Lorie

Big cousins Zach and Jacob

He loves napping with daddy.

2007-06-15T14:32:00.000-07:00

Hello baby!

As you probably know already, Christopher was born about a week early this Tuesday, June 12th! He arrived at 4:07 a.m., weighing 7 lbs. 9 oz. and measuring 20.5 inches long. Active labor, which is when the contractions are painful, started on Monday at 2:30 in the morning (contractions that were not painful started Sunday at 8:00 a.m. and came every 7 minutes until Monday). We went to the hospital around 4:00, but after an exam they said I was only 1 cm dilated and so they told me to walk around for an hour or so and then get re-examined. I did that and remained only 1 cm dilated, and so they told me to go home until I could not bear the contractions anymore, and that's when I should come back - so that's what we did. It ended up being 20 hours of painful contractions every 4-6 minutes before we were finally admitted, Chris and my sister Lorie were very helpful with back rubs and reminding me to breath. By the time we were set up in the delivery room at 10 p.m., that stage of labor was relatively quick as he came at 4:07.

The staff at Women and Infants were great, I really had a good experience there. I had a private recovery room that Chris stayed in with me. They had a lactation consultant come to the room and meet with us for over an hour to help with breastfeeding that was extremely helpful. The delivery went just as smoothly as the pregnancy.

So now we're home! He's doing great, he's eating every hour during the day, every 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 during the night. He already had his first appointment with his pediatrician and had only lost 2 ounces until that point, which is low so that is very good. Its all those feedings I guess! She said he's perfect, and his next appointment is next week.

Thanks to everyone who has been in touch with their congratulations, we are looking forward to everyone meeting him as soon as he gets settled in!

Andrea

2007-06-04T18:10:00.000-07:00

2 weeks until the due date...

Hi everybody, I've managed to go 38 weeks with out posting anything on the website, however, I am very excited to be a Dad and can't wait for Christopher's arrival. I have scheduled a lot of time off this summer and I look forwarding to spending a lot of time with him and Andrea (and Molly of course). Andrea has done a great job with the pregnancy and has been very happy being pregnant. She managed to maintain a 4.0 average in school, work and do research depsite being tired from lack of sleep and making a baby. I am very proud of her. I know she will be a wonderful mother to Christopher. He is very lucky to have her. I look forward to seeing everybody after Christopher is born, have a nice summer, Chris

"I won't lie to you, fatherhood isn't easy like motherhood." -Homer Simpson

2007-05-29T16:28:00.000-07:00

Full-term baby!

Taking a little nap... this is of his face, the top of his head is facing towards the right, and you can see his nose sticking out.

This is at Chris' cousin's wedding this weekend on Boston harbor.

So now that Christopher is 37 weeks along, he is considered full-term. While the due date is June 18th, 95% of babies are not born on their due date, so it does feel like he could come along anytime he wants now. At the doctor's visit last week, they confirmed that he is in fact head down which is great. They also estimated his weight to be about 6 lbs 12 oz, so almost 7 pounds already. They also said he's got a head of hair - maybe he'll be like me when I was born with a head of big black hair!

We're all doing well and eagerly waiting his arrival. People keep asking me if I'm nervous about the delivery and I'm not feeling nervous. I know as much about it as I can without having gone through it, and the rest we'll take as it comes. I'm not sure if I've been having Braxton Hicks contractions or if its just some discomfort since his head has turned down, but nonetheless I've heard a lot about real contractions and that its hard not very hard to recognize them. So we're just waiting now. I hope he waits until his due date or afterwards to be honest, so he's nice and big and ready!

Have a great week!

Andrea

2007-05-21T16:05:00.000-07:00

4 weeks to go!

Hi there,

Nothing much new to write about this week. We finished getting the nursery ready this weekend - Chris did at least 5 loads of baby laundry and I sorted everything and finished putting everything away. We're all ready, we just need the baby!

This past weekend we had a class on caring for a newborn. It was pretty good in that it was practical, but again with the classes there's nothing you either haven't heard before or wouldn't figure out pretty quickly. There was one other couple in the class, and she and I had almost the exact same due date. The funny thing was how absolutely miserable and cranky she was. Chris and I felt bad for the instructor, this lady had to wait outside 10 minutes because the door was locked and no one heard the end of it for the 5 hour class. I have one more class left that I was debating whether to do, the one on breastfeeding, which I suppose I'll just go ahead and do in case I learn something new.

In a few days we have another appointment and this time with an ultrasound which will be cool. The ultrasound is to make sure that he turned over, which I believe he has but don't know. We'll also be getting an estimate of his weight, so I'm not sure whether I should advertise that for those people who haven't voted yet on the baby pool! I'm thinking I gained weight over these past two weeks, there was another spurt I think because today a few people were completely shocked when they saw my belly which was pretty funny. According to a baby website, he should weigh about 6 pounds and be about 19 inches long.

Hope you have a good week, will post some ultrasound pictures next week when he'll be considered full-term :0)

Andrea

2007-05-13T15:48:00.000-07:00

5 weeks to go...

Hi there,

Thought I'd post a few updated pictures. The nursery has so much stuff in it, I've been told there's no room for a baby in there - this doesn't include any of the equipment like the high chair, swing, etc.! Most of those things are set up and are around the house. I don't know where to fit everything, some things are down in the basement and we'll bring them up as we need them. If you look on the chair to the left of the picture of the nursery, you can see one of the piles of laundry to wash, there's so much stuff and its all so cute!! Today Chris' parents and my family came up for a Mother's Day BBQ, so I put a couple pictures from that up. It was a beautiful day out, I'm very excited for the summer.

Last week at the doctor she said I had lost a pound over the past two weeks, which was surprising because at the previous visit I had gained 7 pounds in the previous two weeks. She said it's just water weight and not a big deal. I wonder how much of not gaining this past week had to do with being sick, so maybe I was a little dehydrated or something? I did hear that in the few weeks before delivery women will lose a few pounds, so maybe that's all it was. She believes he did turn upside down, but in two weeks is giving me an ultrasound to be sure. That'll be neat to see, I haven't had one since early in the second trimester. My sister Tricia is able to come to that along with Chris so that'll be great.

Hope you had a nice Mother's day!

Andrea

2007-04-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

6 weeks to go!

So this week I am 34 weeks along, the end feels near! Our birthing classes finished this past Friday. They were OK, nothing terribly surprising or anything, but I'm still glad we did them. I had actually watched so many videos online that I had already seen some of the ones they showed in class, but they were all new to Chris. The overview of medication options and when to go to the hospital were the most useful pieces of information.

The week before last I went to the doctor's, and I'll go again this week because now it is every two weeks. At the last appointment, she was a little concerned about the amount of water weight I had gained in the previous two weeks, because I had also complained of a headache. She did bloodwork and everything was fine. I guess the concern was about preeclampsia which has to do with blood pressure, which was fine. So she ended up saying I haven't been resting enough and need to rest more laying down with my feet up. That hasn't been too easy though as last week and this week are the final weeks of school, and I have exams and presentations. So needless to say I haven't rested enough and as of yesterday came down with an awful sore throat and cough. It'll all be done in a couple days though and I'll be able to take it easy until the baby comes.

Oh one more thing about the doctor's appointment. She felt my belly and said Christopher is still upright, I guess most babies turn by 35 weeks and if they haven't by 37, the doctors will manually turn him around. The other day I felt him doing a weird waving motion side to side though that I haven't felt him do before, and Chris and I could even watch my stomach going side to side, so maybe that was him trying to turn!

Finally, last week was my shower and I'd like to say thanks SO much to everyone who came and for everyone who helped put it together. You did a great job! Below are just a few pictures from it, there are many more I will email out soon.

This cake from my mother was really cute - and good.

Chris' mom highly overestimated the circumference of my belly, more than anyone else!

My sisters and I

Zach, my mom and Sophia

My friends Angela, Tracy & Liz

My friend Jessica (also a big overestimator!)

Jessica's son, Sergio

Me & Chris' friend Christine, Chris' aunt & grandma

So thanks again and I hope everyone has a great week!

Andrea

2007-04-24T15:53:00.000-07:00

8 weeks to go...

I thought I'd post some pictures of the nursery. Its pretty much all set as far as the basic furniture and bedding. We finished hanging up his letters yesterday, that was not easy! Trying to get 11 letters straight and centered took several tries, it is close enough though. The border wasn't nearly as hard to do!

A big thank you to Chris' parents who got this crib for us!

Chris did a great job assembling the crib and the changing table...

and apparently just watching Chris do all that work tired Molly out.

We started our birthing classes last week which were pretty good. It was very basic stuff, probably because it was the first class. There are two more, and tomorrow I also have a breastfeeding class (that Chris gets out of going to because he's working :0). In this class they just covered the stages of labor, what the partner can do to help (they said a lot of "don't take what she says personally when she's in pain") and just basic stuff like that.

Hope you enjoyed the weather today! Chris and I took Molly for a walk on the beach which was nice. It was a nice slow walk, as I don't move too quickly nowadays!

Talk to you soon!
Andrea

2007-04-14T15:09:00.000-07:00

31 weeks (9 to go)...

Hi everyone,

Thought I'd post a picture of Chris and I this week. We've done a lot of work on the nursery, but its not all arranged yet, so I'll wait until we do that to post pictures of it.

I went to the doctors and the glucose test was normal so there's no need for the follow-up test for gestational diabetes. I'll be going again at the end of the month, then every two weeks, then every week.

This week also starts our birthing classes, will let you know how it goes next week!

Have a good weekend despite the bad weather we'll be getting!

Andrea

2007-04-09T16:50:00.000-07:00

30 weeks along! (that means only 10 to go!)

So only ten weeks to go as of today, can you believe that. I started realizing the other day that fairly soon I won't be pregnant anymore, and how much I will miss it. I really love having Christopher with me all the time. Whenever I'm sitting in a meeting or class, or doing work, he moves around and reminds me he's right there and I will miss that. It's been very precious to me being pregnant, I've been lucky that things are going smoothly and I'm feeling great.

As far as the semester with school, there's three more weeks of class and then some exams and that's it. I have a lot of work to do on my master's thesis before he arrives, realizing I won't do anything with it this summer. I've been very busy and will keep it up as long as I can before he comes.

My sister Lorie who will be Christopher's godmother came up with an idea to start a poll guessing the baby's weight and birthday. I figured since I already have this website set up we might as well do it from here - so feel free to click on here and enter your guesses. I already put mine in!

http://www.expectnet.com/games/GuessDateWeight

I also thought I'd upload a couple of pictures that Chris' mom gave me yesterday on Easter. I like the one taken the day he was born!

On his birthday

At 15 months old

I'll have to get some pictures of me as a baby too at some point! Hope you have a nice week and had a great Easter yesterday.

Andrea

2007-04-01T19:42:00.000-07:00

11 weeks to go...

Hi everyone,

So there's only 11 weeks left to go. I've been in the third trimester for a few weeks now, and up until the past few days I continued to feel great. The last few days though I've been pretty exhausted again, I feel a little like I did in the first trimester. I know its common to feel like that towards the end, but its a little too early for that now so I think it might just be that I've been too busy with school and work. Hopefully I get more energy soon!

Last week I had my doctor's appointment and everything is great. I don't know the results of my glucose test yet. After the next visit, I go to every other week. It's funny to think that Christopher would survive if he were born now, it makes it seem like he could come any day now or something!

The nursery furniture arrived at Babies R Us and some friends with a truck helped us get it this weekend. Chris set up the crib yesterday and the furniture looks great. When we set up the room I'll post some pictures of it.

Below are a few pictures from dinner at my family's house this weekend I thought I'd share. My nephew Jacob, Chris, and my sisters Trisha and Jenn all managed to avoid getting their picture taken...

me and Lorie

My brother-in-law Peter. We're due around the same time.

My nephew Zach

Mom & Sophia

Cameron

Have a wonderful week,
love, Andrea

2007-03-18T08:54:00.000-07:00

13 weeks to go...

Hi everyone,

I thought I'd post an updated belly picture, in which I'm wearing my old regular pajamas... I think they still fit ok, just a small shortage of material in the front :0)

I have a doctor's appointment not this week but next week, which is when I will get the glucose test done to determine if I have gestational diabetes. I guess its a long appointment, you have to take some stuff and then wait an hour or something like that.

According to a baby website I follow, Christopher should weigh about 2 pounds now and is about 14 1/2 inches long! That's pretty long. It also says he opens and closes his eyes, and sleeps & wakes at regular intervals. Unless he's moving around in his sleep, I think one of his "awake" times is at night before I go to bed. That's when I feel him the most. My mom actually was able to feel him last night, she's the only other person besides Chris to be able to. The timing has to be just right! To those of you who have been pregnant, did you feel your baby move all the time? I worry sometimes that I don't enough. I've been at the doctor's before while they were listening to him and could tell he was moving a lot, so he's fine, I just couldn't feel him. I only feel him move when I'm still for a while, like sitting in class or going to sleep. My boss' wife was saying she only felt her daughter move once or twice a day and she was very healthy.

Have a great week, and will talk with you soon.

love, Andrea

2007-03-11T09:26:00.000-07:00

14 weeks to go...

Hi everyone,

Here's a few pictures of our nursery so far. Chris is enjoying the glider chair he successfully assembled! The only other peice of furniture we have is the changing table. Babies R Us hasn't been very good about getting the crib and dresser in, they both have come in twice and were damaged and had to be reordered. Hopefully they are here soon. The crib should be fun to assemble I'm sure!

In two weeks I will get a blood glucose test to determine if I have gestational diabetes. I asked if there were signs of it and the doctor said not always, but I'm guessing I don't have it. After that visit, I will be in my THIRD trimester already and will go to the doctors every two weeks. Wow is it going by fast!

I hope everyone enjoys the beautiful weather this weekend and will talk to you soon.

love, Andrea & Chris

2007-03-04T18:26:00.000-08:00

25 weeks along (15 to go!)

Hi everyone,

Not much new to report this week. We were going to start our birthing classes last week but rescheduled because its a little too early. When I had called to initially schedule them, these were the only ones available so I just signed up. Now we'll be going at the end of April, which will be closer to the due date of June 18th which makes more sense.

Things are busy and stressful with school, but I am trying not to get too stressed out. After this week I will have a little breathing room which I'm looking forward to.

My family came over tonight for some dinner, it was great seeing them and below are some pictures. Christopher is going to have a big group of cousins to meet when he arrives!

Dad & mom

Auntie Lorie & cousin Jacob

Grandma

Cousins Sophia & Cameron

Auntie Trisha

Have a great week!

Andrea

2007-02-25T07:24:00.000-08:00

6 months along! (24 weeks)

Just a quick belly update Chris took today while I was on the phone! Christopher and I are feeling great. Last week I got woken up with a leg cramp that was really painful, it hasn't happened again since but I do hear they are common in the second and third trimesters. We ordered some really attractive compression stockings that may help with that! I hope things are going well for you.

Andrea

2007-02-19T15:15:00.000-08:00

Baby Christopher!!

I thought I'd upload a few pictures of Chris as a baby so we can make a good guess at what the baby will look like. For those who don't know, we're naming him after Chris - except I'd like to call him Christopher to avoid confusion! That said, Christopher is kicking around in there, I usually feel him the most before I fall asleep and when I'm sitting for a while in class or doing work.

I have been so busy with school this semester that I have a feeling the next four months will fly by. I have been feeling great, I am really enjoying the second trimester. Someone asked me today if the baby had a growth spurt recently, because I look significantly bigger than last week. I think it was just the top I was wearing, though I must say my belly has been itching like crazy today. I hear that can happen as the skin stretches, so maybe there is a growth spurt happening!

Chris isn't home so he can't take a picture of my belly this week, will try to post one soon. Hope you're all doing great and will talk with you soon.

Andrea

2007-02-10T17:48:00.000-08:00

22 weeks...

Hi everyone,

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and it went well. It was a quick appointment because everything is fine, there won't be an ultrasound for a while now. I got weighed and have gained exactly 20 pounds, which feels like a lot but the doctor said it is good. My appetite has been pretty big lately, so I don't think that will be slowing down anytime soon! I do crave random foods that I don't normally eat much of. Just last week during class I heard the baby shout "send down a meatball sandwich immediately," so naturally, as soon as class was over, I had one delivered to my office. I'm very happy to oblige his food requests!

Chris and I went to Babies R Us today and changed a few things on the registry, including the entire theme for the room. I saw the one we had picked before and decided I didn't like it anymore, so now we're going with a Winnie the Pooh theme. Below is the website if you want to check it out, its really soft and cute. Chris doesn't have to repaint the nursery again which is good!

Although I have felt the baby move for about a month now, I only felt him kick strongly in the past week or so. Chris had his hand on my belly yesterday waiting for one and felt him kick for the first time which was really nice.

http://www.toysrus.com/product/prodpop.jsp?LargeImageURL=http%3A//TRUS.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pTRU1-3049420dt.jpg&displayTab=enh&productId=2415172&totCount=0

I hope you have a great week!

Andrea

2007-02-08T16:19:00.000-08:00

Will post more later this week, I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow afternoon which I'm not sure what will happen at - I'll let you know! Hope things are going well.

Andrea

2007-01-28T07:03:00.000-08:00

20 Weeks (we're halfway there!)

Hi everyone,

So this week makes the halfway point for us which is exciting (though I think it was probably the easier half, we'll see!). According to a baby website I follow, he should be about 10 inches long and weigh about 10.5 ounces. I wonder if he weighs more than that though because at his ultrasound three weeks ago, the website said he should have weighed about 5 ounces but the doctor estimated he weighed 9 ounces. He might be a fat little guy! Also according to this website is that he is now covered in that greasy white stuff called vernix to protect his skin, and that's his digestive system is getting practice by swallowing amniotic fluid.

Chris and I registered for our prenatal classes last week. We get a tour of Women and Infants during one of them which is good, I've never been there (as a patient) so I wouldn't know where to go, as all my visits with the d0ctor are down near my house. We signed up for three, the usual birthing class that's for a month, a breastfeeding class, and a caring for mother & infant class for post-delivery. Chris can attend all of them which is great.

Have a great week and will write more soon.

love, Andrea

2007-01-18T14:30:00.000-08:00

18 1/2 Weeks along...

Hi everyone,

As you can see, we are getting the nursery ready for the baby, well, Chris is more the one getting it ready since I'm not allowed to do any painting right now. What we did was pick out a theme for the room, which is under the sea, and brought one of the pieces from it home so we could match the wall color to it. You can see the theme on their website if you want:

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2407318&cp=2255986.2290652.2290950&parentPage=family

Its a nice color, I think the room will look great. What setting up this room will entail is switching around out other rooms, so while Chris is up to it, he's going to paint our new bedroom also.

I had a doctor's visit the day before yesterday which wasn't anything special, just a check in and everything seems normal and healthy she said. My average weight gain for the 2nd trimester has been 1.5 pounds per week, which is right on target as they say I should gain 1-2 pounds per week from now on.

One last update, I felt Christopher fluttering around for the first time a few nights ago! It was very cute. It took a couple of times for me to realize what it was, now I can recognize it easily. I have almost always noticed it only at night, its just a gentle flutter very low in my adbomen which is always neat to feel.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Andrea

2007-01-09T15:54:00.000-08:00

It's a boy!!!

Hi everyone,

Today was our third ultrasound and as you can see, it's a boy! We're so excited. It was a great visit, we saw so much of his anatomy. The skeletal system was visible, down to jaws and fingers. They also were able to show his blood circulating from the umbilical cord to the heart (in color), that was really neat. All his organs seemed to look fine, meaning there were two when there was supposed to be and they were on the right side of his body. She said I should be able to feel him kick soon, that sometimes if the placenta is on top the mother doesn't feel it because its acts as a cushion, however his is on the bottom so it should be any time now. I also read it takes longer for first time moms to recognize a kick, because they don't know what to expect. He moves a lot, I should feel that soon.

Below are some pictures from today. The quality is pretty poor, and I don't know about you but whenever I saw someone else's ultrasound pictures, I could never figure out what I was looking at. I can make everything out on these pictures because on the monitor at the appointment, it is ten times larger and clearer. But here it goes... remember, you can click on a photo to enlarge it if its too small to see.

This first one is of his arm, his head is on the right. The technician said it was important to see his hand was open, for some reason that rules out several problems.

Another view of his arm.

Here is a typical profile view. his head is on the right, facing up. The white lines are his bones, you can see his jaws, spinal cord, and face bones well.

Lastly, she said there's no doubt about it - he's definitely a boy.

Will post an updated belly shot next week, when I will be 18 weeks along. By the way, according to his measurements today they came up with a due date 9 days earlier than mine, though again there is error in those measurements so my doctor wants to stick with the date of June 18th. Its funny that every ultrasound has given me a week earlier of a date though!

Talk to you soon,
Andrea

2006-12-25T17:18:00.000-08:00

15 Weeks (again!)

Hi everyone,

First let me explain the title of this blog. I went for a doctor's appointment last week and she said to ignore the radiologist's due date, that I should go back to the original one of June 18, 2007. So alas, I'm still 15 weeks along this week, not 16 like the radiologist told me. She said that while the scans are always saying I'm a week further ahead, that they aren't totally accurate so we shouldn't change the original due date.

Nothing much went on at the last appointment, other than that she couldn't find the heartbeat for about 60 seconds which was really scary. I guess its normal to take a long time to locate though, because she didn't have the aid of an ultrasound image, it was basically just a microphone. So no photos this week, but, we find out the sex (if all goes well and they can tell) in two weeks, on January 9th. We can't wait!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas today!

love, Andrea

2006-12-18T18:47:00.000-08:00

15 Weeks

Today makes 15 weeks along for me, the baby is somewhere between the size of a lemon and an advocado. I have felt great the past couple of weeks, only one day I was really dragging. I don't know how I went through last semester feeling like that everyday, on top of not sleeping well! I appreciate how much support I received from my family & Chris. Poor Chris, I didn't do a thing around the house the whole trimester. Literally, not a thing except lay down, sleep and eat. I may have fed the dogs a day or two... I think... Chris was very patient, though he's glad that's getting better now!

So as you can see in the photos there is definitely getting to be a pooch to my belly. People notice it but it still just looks like I've gained weight, its not distinctively a pregnancy belly yet. By the way, I've gained 5 pounds so far which is exactly on target. I ran into a girl from my class today and told her and she was shocked, I laughed because she said "oh I noticed last week you've gained weight, I thought it was just stress from school." So maybe I should tell people why I'm gaining weight, otherwise they are left to assume that between gaining weight and my skin and hair looking bad that I've just let myself go or something! Speaking of that, its been really cool telling people. Everyone is so excited for Chris and I, and that means a lot to us.

Looked at one daycare so far and will look at another tomorrow. The one we saw is nice, but 20 minutes from home. So picking up the baby will be almost an hour affair, that's too long. There's one 4 minutes from our house that has a waiting list, I put us on. The one I'll see tomorrow is on campus, very convenient. I'll update next week on how it goes.

2006-12-10T08:32:00.000-08:00

14 Weeks Along

So this week makes 14 weeks, the start of the second trimester. Here is a "before" picture of my belly, taken yesterday, so we can see just how much is going to change during the second trimester. I must say my pants are already very uncomfortable, there are a few that I could wear last week but yesterday even my most comfortable pair hurt my stomach. I have one pair of maternity jeans so far, I think its about time to get some more clothes.

No updates as far as appointments for the past couple of weeks. Although we will be able to know the sex in a couple of weeks, my next ultra sound is not scheduled until January so we'll find out then. I had been hoping for a boy until recently, now I honestly would be happy either way. Only problem with a boy is Chris and I can't agree on a name :0).

Andrea

2006-11-28T13:18:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

Today we completed 2 of the 3 parts for the first set of testing for genetic abnormalities. These first two parts consisted of my blood getting drawn and an ultra sound at a special radiology lab, not our usual ob/gyn office. These are the photos from the testing which he said looked GREAT. There were two things he was primarily looking for in these pictures that would suggest Down's syndrome, one is whether there is a nasal bone (70% of individuals with Down's syndrome do not have that nasal bone) and the other is the amount of fluid behind the neck. He showed me a picture of what the fluid looks like in a Down's baby and it was really, really big - twice the thickness of the normal neck. Then he showed it on ours and it was normal, just a very thin layer. He also pointed out the nasal bone the baby has. So it looks like things are fine in that area. The next step is my getting my blood drawn in a month and that will determine if the baby has spina bifada. I was surprised to learn neither of these run in families, so we are just as likely to have a baby with these problems as any one else.

While he was looking around he said things looked good overall, the placenta is good and everything. A few interesting points... the baby isn't upside down anymore, his head is the part on top. Also, you can see his hand clear as day, the fingers are separate, and you can see the umbilical cord. Lastly, he said the same thing they said at the last ultra sound, that I am a week further ahead than originally thought, so I think that is most accurate. As of this past Monday I was 12 weeks, which might explain my starting to feel better - I'm getting out of the first trimester alive! Not to say I didn't nap twice today, it was my day off so I took advantage of it :0).

Enjoy the pics, at my next one in a month we'll find out the sex!

Andrea

2006-11-21T15:32:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

As you can see from the photo above, we've had our first ultra sound and heard the heartbeat too. It was quite the experience to see the baby with my own eyes and to hear the heart beating - it was just a beautiful thing. In the photos, the baby is upside down. You can see the arms on the sides pretty easily.

So I've talked about this with a few family members and they feel the same way - we all think this is a girl. I have a strong feeling that it is. I'm not sure how soon we find out, I hope soon. I'm at 10 weeks now, and I think its at 16 weeks that we can know the sex. I can't wait to find out!

Next week I have to start a series of bloodwork/ultra sounds to test for birth defects. I think the first couple tests are for spina bifida and Down's syndrome. I believe that is all they test for in the first trimester.

My first visit with the ob/gyn went well last week. She is very laid back. A little too much if I had to say, she was late for our appointment but I guess she drives from Providence to the office closer to my house. She's very young, I liked her. I suppose it was good that she was so laid back because I was throwing a hundred questions to her about everything, including whether Lean Cuisine meals are ok for the baby, and she was patient and nice about everything. (oh and the answer to that question is those frozen meals aren't good for anybody, but it won't hurt the baby).

Other than that, nothing much new. I've gained a few pounds but my regular clothes fit perfectly fine. I'm feeling fine most days, days when I am really exhausted is rare now which is great.

I'll post any new developments!

Andrea

2006-10-31T17:40:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

Today makes just over 7 weeks along for me, which is just about half of the first trimester. I've been feeling better this past week which is nice, I'm getting more sleep and am feeling less exhausted. The first couple weeks were fine, just a little tired, but then I got really drained and my emotions were all over the place. I never noticed before how many sad commercials are out there... and I made the mistake of watching When a Man Loves a Woman on t.v. the other day, I just went through a box of tissues for that :0).

But when I'm able to get some extra sleep I feel pretty good. There's always a sense of being tired, its just constant, but I'm getting used to it. Its as though I ran for miles (yeah right) and am sore, its just tempting to always want to lay down. I hear the fatigue really lightens up once you hit the end of the first trimester, and although I don't want this pregnancy to rush by or anything, I am quite looking forward to my the 13 week mark, if I will in fact feel a bit more like my old self.

Next week I have my first appointment with the nurse, and the week after with my ob/gyn. I've never met either, so I hope I like them. I plan on delivering at Women & Infants, because that's a good place to be if there are any complications.

Will write more soon.

Andrea