Post Christmas Wrap-Up

Christmas has come and gone and I couldn't be more sad :( It seems like the time passed and we didn't really get to enjoy it! I mean, we did enjoy it, but it was obviously different from Christmas' past. Lauren seemed to enjoy herself when we had family over on Christmas Eve day, at church on Christmas Eve and then the entire Christmas Day. I just can't believe it was her first Christmas! All these firsts are wonderful to enjoy, but they do pass far too quickly!

In addition to Christmas, Lauren also hit her 2 month mark! I can't believe it! It seems like it was only yesterday that she was born, but at the same time, it feels like she has always been with us! Here is her 2 month picture, do you see any difference from her 1 month?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

And I couldn't be more excited! We are in the process of decorating the house and getting everything ready for Santa! And the snow fell yesterday! Here's hoping for a white Christmas!

For Thanksgiving, we spent the day in Indiana and had a great time! Everyone got to meet Lauren and Ann took some wonderful pictures and she has them posted on her blog. We really did luck out with a good kid, the entire 3 and a half hour trip there, she only woke up once and didn't wake up at all on the trip home. At this point I was afraid she wasn't going to sleep when we got home, but guess what, she did :)

Not much has happened since Thanksgiving, but Lauren really is starting to come into her own. She has created her own schedule and it has been pretty easy. We really are just hanging out at home, decorating for Christmas and taking pictures.

A House Divided?

Yep, and always will be ;) Aaron is now outnumbered with two for Michigan and one for Ohio State, though, I am sure if Aaron could claim the dog and cat as Ohio State fans he would, just to win, obviously :)

It has always been said - even before Lauren came into our lives - that if we were to have a girl, she would be a Michigan fan and if we were to have a boy, he would be an Ohio State fan. This scenario seemed to be fair enough... until the time came for Lauren to wear her little Michigan cheerleader dress to the "Big Game" at a house where we would be outnumbered and Aaron wanted to renege on our agreement. This was a debate I was not going to back down from and after all was said and done, I won and Lolo got to wear her outfit and was the hit of the party!

And we even took a picture to document the occasion :)

Just Because...

When I do find a moment and I there isn't enough time in that moment to type something clever to accompany it, I take to scrapblogging. Here is an example of my scrapblog enjoy!

(Some of) Lauren's Loveable Moments...

I am going to try and keep a continuous list of the little things only a mother could love about her child. I want to do this to preserve the small memories that can slip through the cracks and forgotten about. So these posts are more for me than they are for you, but please enjoy them anyway!

1.) The "I'm poopin face."

2.) I just pee'd on dad incident.

3.) I jut pooped on mom incident.

4.) I'm not smilin', I'm a fartin', also known as Gas Smiles.

5.) The good morning face. Though it has only happened a few times, I fall in love with it over and over.

6.) Baby feet - which I have always loved, but love them even more now that they are my child's.

7.) Baby hiccups! Lauren always had them in utero (honestly, 2 or 3 times a day) and now I get to see them instead of feel them, but it is still the same loveable feeling!

8.) Let's just say Butt Rockets have a whole new meaning!

9.) Letting her get away with napping on my chest for I know she's only a newborn once, she can get away with it for a few weeks.

10.) Baby snores :)

Photo-Ville Friday!

As most of you can imagine, the free time I once had is now dictated by Miss Lauren. While this is an expected change and one we love, it means the other things we once loved doing are now sitting on the back burner. So, what I have decided to do is, every Friday I will proudly display the random photos of Lolo that were taken throughout the week, because those are more fun than anything I would have to say anyway, Enjoy!

Lauren's Grand Appearance!

Finally... at 4:43 p.m. on October 24, 2008, Lauren Brynn made her entrance into the world! She is absolutely perfect and the cutest little thing to boot!

I don't really want to bore you with all the details, but here is how it went down, er, came out ;) For those of you who are interested... if you aren't, enjoy the photos :)

We went to the hospital at 7 p.m. on Thursday evening to be induced. I didn't really know what to expect, other than the end result of course, but I didn't know I was going right to Labor & Delivery! We get to our room, get settled and then a couple of hours later, the doctor comes in to start the induction process. Balloon in, check. Contractions intensified, check. Progress? Not so much! Around midnight, the nurse comes in and suggests that I get a dose of Nubain so I can get some sleep, so I take it with open arms. Let me tell you how great of a drug that is! Within seconds of it entering my bloodstream, I feel as if I am drunk! Drunk and in labor, what?! Really though, it was great. I instantly fell asleep and would stay that way until 7:30 in the morning. Other than the hour on the hour blood pressure checks, it was nice to get some rest...

Over night, my blood sugar level dropped, so nausea set in...it was so bad that my blood sugar dropped and I was allowed solid food. At this point, Pitocin was started, contractions still in action and was nauseous, such a lovely combination. This is the way I would stay until noon when the wonderful anesthesiologist by the name of Frank came in and did his work with my epidural - which I was afraid to get (Heather, let's talk about this)! I got the epidural at this point not because I couldn't handle the contractions I was already having, but if I didn't get it then I wouldn't be able to get it at all and I wasn't going to have any part of feeling all that pain!

Finally, it was time to call the family and have them come to the hospital for the show was really on the road! So from 12:15 to 4:00 Aaron and I sat and chatted with family and enjoyed the labor process. The only thing I really remember in that time frame was the wonderful experience of my water spontaneously breaking... I couldn't wait a few more minutes for the doctor to come and do it, and that wouldn't be the only time I couldn't wait for her... We were all just sitting and chatting away, Aaron and my mom watching T.V. and Mark just minding his business and there I am, feeling like I just got into a huge squirt gun fight and I was the only contender!

After that, everything happened SO fast... I don't know if it really did happen fast, but it did feel like it. Around 4, I was checked and was told "it's time to push!" Oh what? Come again? Push? So there it started and lasted for roughly 20 minutes... Yes, only 20 minutes... I was lucky enough to not feel any pain, only the urge to push. My nurse was WONDERFUL with helping me along and getting me set up for the doctor... the doctor who wasn't even back to the hospital yet. Yep, you got it, I was one of those lucky women who gets to push, then wait for the doctor! Good thing I wasn't pushing for long, I can only imagine what those women feel, oh man! Finally, the doctor shows up, does her magic, we go through 2 more rounds of pushing and the rest is history!

It wasn't...

The day has come and gone... I know it's just an "estimated" date, but seriously, they should just say "you'll deliver sometime at the end of October." It just makes more sense.