Christmas day

This post is coming from Samantha's new ipod touch. We are still down in Americus so we don't have any pictures yet. There will be tons of pictures soon enough.

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Bueller....Bueller...anyone....

Perhaps we should have named him Ferris.

I don't know what's going on with him, but I had to pick him up early from daycare today because he was getting sick.
He seems perfectly fine now and couldn't be more happy playing and trying to get into the Christmas presents.
Of course, since he was sick today he can't go to daycare tomorrow.
I don't know if he is too young to start seeing the cause and effect relationship there, but let's hope so.

Of course, he might think that at home he gets to play with any one of our numerous visitors in the past week, especially since Aunt Jessica was here last week to take care of him and his mom when they were sick.
Oh well - its hard to be upset with him even though chasing him means a really bad attempt at photo-shopping.

More Visiting

From Jessica and Heather

My Aunt Jessica and her friend Heather came to visit last night. Don't worry its not like I'm being spoiled at all.

Visiting

From Baxter

It's been a busy week. We are still recovering from being sick and we've had alot of company. This morning Mac had the chance to play with Baxter, Aunt Melanie and Uncle Eric's dog. They were very cute together so of course we took pictures. Baxter tolerated the whole thing pretty well.

Sick Day

 

Mac and I were sick most of today and yesterday. Unfortunately that means more work for Samantha.
I have to go back to work tomorrow and now she isn't feeling well. Mac will likely be fine tomorrow but can't go to day care since he had a fever this evening.
Hopefully he is not too much trouble for her and they can make it through the day until I get home.

Pickles and Promotions

We had lunch out today while running errands and Mac was not satisfied with his jar of baby food, so we let him try food off our plates. He loved the strawberries and was incredibly cute eating the top part of a pickle spear.




Everyday Mac comes home from day care with a report sheet letting us know things about his day.
Well, the other day another sheet was attached that said "It's time to fly the coop!"
Long story short, Mac is getting promoted to the next class. We knew it was coming, but it was still a little bit of a surprise and I think that Samantha has mixed emotions. She is excited, but also feels like the time is going by too fast.

Crawling

Happy Birthday tomorrow to Aunt Melanie!!! Here's an early birthday present for her.

Quick Note

It's been a big week at our house. Mac's tooth is still breaking through. He has also starting crawling. (Hopefully a video of this will follow soon). On top of all this, he had a "Sunshine Report" from school yesterday. He was in his crib at school and pulled himself up to a standing position. So its been a big week and alot to adjust to for mom and dad.

Public Service Announcement

I wanted to remind everyone to go out and vote on Tuesday.
Unless of course you are one of the cool kids like me who went ahead and took care of that business.
Remember to pray about this because whoever is elected will likely put policies in place that impact the rest of my life.

Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone!!!

From Halloween 2008

In other news, this morning I seem to be cutting my first tooth. It's making me a little fussy, but I'm ready to focus now 'cause the dawgs are starting to play. I'll let you know how it comes out.

My Sumter County weekend

Whew...I have been busy. I guess that is the price one pays for being in such high demand.
First, we made an appearance at a book signing for the famous author Jacquelyn Cook - my great-grandmother.



After the book signing and lunch (I don't miss any meals) we visited another of my great-grandmothers. I played with my cousins Walker and Taylor (not pictured).
Walker is 54 weeks older than me. He is my main source of church clothing and a pretty fun guy.



I also crashed a 50-year old's birthday party Saturday night and, of course, went to church on Sunday.
Thankfully, no pictures were taken of the Sunday lunch incident, which we will not talk about.

It is a good thing Mommy and I had Monday off to rest and recuperate.

Pumpkins For Sale

Today we went to the Milledge Avenue Baptist Church (thats our church) pumpkin patch to volunteer. I don't mean to boast, but I'm a good pumpkin seller. It's probably because I looked so cool in my new chucks (thats my Converse for those of you who don't know).

Pumpkins 10-21-08

Here's a little something to distract you when you should be working...

Isn't he cute???

Grandma Great

We made the three hour trip down to Americus this past weekend after realizing it had been 3 months since we visited.
There were lots of people to visit, but one of the highlights was Grandma was able to make the trip over from Auburn.



If nothing appears above this, try reloading the page.
For those who are interested, you can click on the slideshow and it will take you to the album and download images from there.

Three squeaks for Grandpa Tom!

 

Happy Birthday Grandpa Tom.
You know, I've been wishing a lot of people "Happy Birthday," when do I get a birthday...?

Swaddling: Cruel and unusual or a parent's salvation?

Despite the objections of some of our 6 readers, we have swaddled Mac since he came home from the hospital. We were told that it seemed mean and torturous.
However, Mac started sleeping through the night by 6 or 7 weeks old and it was hard to argue with those results. After all, "If it ain't broke..."

We knew that we could not swaddle him forever: I mean, they don't make wraps big enough for 10 year olds. Plus, that might make sleep-overs awkward.
So, we have been trying to decide the best way to wean him off of swaddling. Without any great ideas, we pressed onward.

Well, about a week ago, Mac "politely" refused to be swaddled one night. We decided to let him have a chance at freedom and figured we would have to get up in the middle of the night.
Much to our surprise, he slept straight through until morning and has been free from the bondage of swaddling ever since.

Here is a picture of him napping sans swaddle.

Happy Birthday to Papa John!

Today is my Papa John's birthday (we won't mention how old he is today). In honor of him we have some pictures of my first University of Georgia football game.

6 Months!!!???

We don't know about you, but we really can't believe that it has already been 6 months.
Time has just flown by. We are constantly amazed at how much he has grown. He likes to roll around and sometimes likes to sit-up. Crawling is just around the corner.
It will probably be no time at all before he starts driving...

From MABC Block Party 2008

On another, exciting note, Doug started his new job yesterday. Some of you may not have known, but he was let go from his old job a month ago due to the poor housing market. So, its back to the grindstone, but we are excited about it.

Mac eats

Mac is now eating baby food.
Well, he has actually been eating that for a while now.
This video is from one of the first times we fed him carrots.
I guess he wasn't too sure about the texture or why his food wasn't in a bottle, but we think it is funny how he makes that terrible face and then immediately tries to get more.



He is a very good eater - he eats three meals a day and eats all kinds of foods that I don't eat.
I guess I will need to work on being a better example and start eating more vegetables, but hopefully he will continue to like those things even if I can't.

Dennis the Menace?

UGA Lamb Show

Click on the picture for more photos of Mac's first lamb show.
He was a pee-wee exhibitor at the 4-H show.
He was very interested in the lambs, but mostly wanted to put the rope into his mouth.

Reading

We've been absent from here for a while, but wanted to let y'all know that Mac is a little advanced for his age. We recently found him sitting in our bed, reading.

There has been a lot going on recently and we will try to get caught up soon.

Go Georgia Bulldogs

Daddy got me a new hat. Coach Mark Richt signed it for us and he said that they would try to make my first season a good one. I'm just letting ya'll know now that if the Bulldogs win the national title this year its all for me.

Feet

This week I found my feet. I did not know that I had feet before, but now they are my favorite toy. Chew toy that is. In fact they are so fun that it was hard to stop playing in order to let you know about them.

P.S. Lots of other fun stuff is happening too. Aunt Melanie got married (I wore a Carolina shirt, which Uncle Eric loved!) And also Aunt Jessica got engaged. So now there will definetely be two uncle Eric's. Or maybe all uncles are called Eric, what do I know I'm just a baby.

Helping Daddy

Since Mac arrived, we really haven't had much time for blogging.
We are continually amazed at how fast he is growing and I wanted to let everyone know that even though Mac creates almost as much laundry as I do, he is already pitching in to help out around the house.

Doug

Finally something more!

So we haven't posted in a very long time, but it's been pretty busy around here. Among other things Mac was sick this weekend. He had his first trip to the ER with a fairly high fever. It was a virus and after several trips to the doctor/hospital and plenty of Tylenol he is better now. So we have survived our first real illness, though he is still battling a small cold.



Today Mac is officially 3 months old. He is changing constantly. He smiles at us all the time, its just hard to catch it on camera, mostly because we can't stop looking at him ourselves.



We did however get this video of him today. He has rolled over 4 times already today so I guess the trick is here to stay now. By the way he is not watching tv when he rolls over.

Thats all for now, I'll try to get a picture of him smiling/laughing posted soon.

Okay little trouble getting the video to upload so i'll be working on that for later.

2008 National Champions!!

Aren't they adorable!?!?!

Well perhaps we should say handsome.

We had to get all G'd up to go watch our Gymdogs (Georgia gymnastics team) win the National Championship last night. This is their 4th national title in a row.

I've got GAS this morning!

We love this picture!! This is boyfriend-uncle Eric holding Mac. Jessica was taking their picture when Mac passed gas VERY Loudly. Eric was shocked and amazed. He was also proud, something we need to work on before Mac is old enough to understand.

Happy Birthday!!

Well, not my birthday or Daddy's, but Happy Birthday to Nana!

Mommy had a birthday last week, but we already celebrated that.

Nana, we hope you have a good birthday even though we aren't there.

Can You Roll Over?

We had a big weekend. We went to visit down in Americus and attend a wedding. While we were there Mac was playing on his tummy (okay so he was laying there crying) and he rolled over onto his back. The incident was witnessed by his father and Grandpa Tom. Unfortunately this could not be duplicated so no one else has seen it and it seems it might have been a fluke. Still pretty neat though.
The next exciting thing is that Mac has outgrown his first outfit. The clothes that he wore home from the hospital no longer fit. We're excited because we thought he had grown alot, but his doctor's visit didn't really confirm that.

Mac is also becoming more and more alert. He loves to watch his mobile go around. He can pick out a car and follow it as it goes around. He also knows when we start fixing him a bottle. When he hears us shake the bottle to mix it, he quiets and looks around for it. All pretty impressive for 1 month old!!

My First Band-Aid

I'm one month old now so I had to go to the doctor. Mostly it wasn't too bad. I got measured, I'm 9 lbs 12oz, 22 inches, and my head is 15 inches around. I did have to get a shot though, thats how I got my first band-aid. It had Bugs Bunny on it, whoever that is. The doctor said I'm doing great, no problems.

Mommy also says that her friend Rebecca had two babies last night on my one month birthday. Now I finally have some friends that are girls!

4 Weeks Old

Mac is 4 weeks old today! The best part is that he slept from 10:30 last night until 5:00 this morning. He usually only makes it until 3:30 so this was a major event. Perhaps we are on the way to sleeping through the night!!

Easter Weekend

We have had a big couple of days. First of all the crib has finally arrived. The nursery is finally done!!! Mac is now three weeks old, but better late than never right?


We went to Sumter County to visit for Easter, so Mac was passed around all weekend and met lots of family and friends. It was great, but of course now he doesn't want to be put down----ever!

We also have one other important piece of news, Mac has a belly button! I personally think its adorable but I will spare everyone the pictures. Probably only parents get excited about this sort of thing, but for us it is a milestone.

How can you not love this?

Let's ignore the fact that he spit up on this just as I went for the camera. I still can't help but eat this up.

Who does he look like?

Okay so its a little hard to tell from this picture of Mac since its not exactly the same angle, but he definitely looks like his mom. The second picture is actually the one taken of me before I left the hospital. I wish you could see him in person because it is freakish how much he looked like this picture of me. Of course he is already changing and looking different. Jessica thinks maybe he looks more like Doug already, but its hard to say. I promise to put up more pictures soon.

Finally a picture!

Sorry it has taken us so long to get a picture up here. Trust me it was not for a lack of pictures. Maybe we'll set up a flickr account or something. In the meantime, here is one our favorites - we like to call it the glow worm picture.

Happy Birthday to Mac!!!

Well most of you have probably heard the news already, but our little man arrived yesterday at 12:59 pm. Thats only 6 hours of labor start to finish which is pretty amazing. I have to confess that it really wasn't bad. It was a wonderful day anyway because we got our little boy, but we had a great experience too. We had a fabulous nurse who helped us to sail through the whole event pretty calmly. Mac might have even gotten here sooner, but we had to stop and wait for the doctor to finish a surgery she was performing.

I'm recovering really well and feeling great all things considered. And Mac is doing great!!! The pediatrician saw him today and said he was perfect (which we had already decided as well). He has gone for his own little surgery at the moment so we hope all goes well with that.



And finally here are the vital statistics:

Born 3/3/08 @ 12:59 pm

Weight 8 lb 9 oz

Length 21 inches

Feet are huge!!


We will post some pictures when we get home and have a chance to go through them.

Guess my weight!!

Okay so nobody better guess MY weight unless your looking for a fight.

We are however starting a pool to see who can guess the closest to Mac's weight at birth.
Here's what we have so far:
Samantha - 7 lbs 8oz
Doug - 8 lbs 10 oz
Lynne - 7 lbs 9 oz
Jessica - 8 lbs 1 oz
John - 8 lb 7 oz
Sharon - 8 lb 9 oz
Eric - 8 lb 5 oz
Sarah (our neighbor) - 7 lb 13 oz

All guesses must be in by Noon on 3/3/08 to count. (NOTE: there is no prize; we can't actually bet since Doug is a church deacon now:)

EDIT
Tom also guessed 8 lb 7oz, so it would be fitting for Mac to weigh that much since the two people he is named after guessed that amount independently.

Still Going

There is nothing new to report, but I know we have so many loyal followers that are checking the blog constantly, so I figured I would give you an update.  We are just hanging out hoping something will happen.  It would still be nice if Mac would come on his on prior to the induction.  However, just having a deadline for when he will come is helping us to be more relaxed about the whole thing.  No Pressure.   But we would love to see little Mac soon.

God's timing is better than mine

So apparently the eggplant was a bust, guess no one is too surprised by that.

The good news is that I went to the doctor today and everything looks good. They did some fetal monitoring and Mac is looking healthy. The doctor also said something about him being "big" but I did not ask for details on that. I really don't want to know at this point. He has to come out one way or the other so I might as well not worry about how much he will weigh. Its too late to put him on a diet and he is certainly getting plenty of exercise already.

The best news is that we are scheduled to be induced Monday morning at 6 AM. Despite how early that is we are really excited!!! Turns out to be good that I didn't go into labor already because the hospital is full. They expect some rooms by tonight, but there would have been nowhere for me to go if he had come last night.

So now we have a plan and we sorta know what we are doing. Hopefully our next post will include some BABY PICTURES!!!

Eggplant Parmesan and Snow?

So we heard from several different people on Monday that eggplant parmesan is the way to induce labor. In fact, there is actually a restuarant in Atlanta that guarantees you will go into labor within 24-48 hours or they will give you money back. Here's a link to an article we found about it. Of course that is the other side of Atlanta (probably 2 hours away) which would certainly guarantee I would go into labor, just that I might have the baby in the car.
We found that Johhny Carino's here in Athens serves eggplant parmesan so we decided to try it last night. It sounded good anyway (as long as Doug didn't have to eat it). Hopefully we will have some results soon.
It has now started snowing here as well. Nothing too exciting, this is still Georgia after all, but between the two events surely something will happen today.

Back on Track

Doug is well enough to be back at work today, so we are again ready for Mac's arrival at any time. I can't tell you what a relief it is to have Doug better. I was trying not to freak out at the thought of having to go through labor without his help.

Last night we were able to get a few more things finished in the nursery and I guess its about as ready as it is gonna be. We have a dresser/changing table in addition to what you see in the picture, but this corner is the only part that really looks finished. The picture from Melanie and Eric will go on the ledge where the empty space is just as soon as it comes back from being framed.

Daddy's sick

So we had been hoping that perhaps the baby would make an entrance this weekend, but things have changed a little. Doug officially has the flu. So now we are praying that he gets well before Mac arrives. We still hope he comes early because at the rate I'm gaining weight he will be 10 pounds soon. (my own personal estimate, the doctors are not making any guesses yet) So please join us in hoping for a speedy recovery for Doug.

38 Weeks Today!

So today makes 38 weeks, we have officially reached full term and Mac can come any time now! Let's hope he makes an appearance soon.

Where's my belly button?

So a couple of months ago my belly button was poking out like a meat thermometer had popped proclaiming this baby to be done. Suddenly I noticed last night that it is disappearing again. Where did it go? you ask. Well my belly is now stretched so tightly that it is actually flattening out, if this keeps up for the next few weeks there will be nothing left at all. Maybe some of you knew this would happen, but I didn't know it was physically possible so I'm a little surprised. I'm also very interested to see what kind of belly button I'll end up with when this is over.

The Nursery

Well, since Samantha has made herself busy with making a baby, and I can't help with that, I thought I'd help by putting the nursery together.
Great idea, but I did not realize exactly what I was getting myself into.
Thankfully, I had my parents who graciously agreed to help. It was great to be able work with them and to do something for Mac.
After starting on this the weekend after Thanksgiving, I am glad to say it is done!

This first picture is the room before we changed it. This color was everywhere.

These next pictures are of the room finished.

Obviously the room is not really finished - it still needs furniture and decorating.
However, my part is basically done since the furniture is on order and I'm not authorized to decorate, especially not alone.

Laundry

Looks like I haven't done laundry in a long time, right? Nope. This is just the piles of baby clothes we've been given. I started getting everything out to wash yesterday, it took an hour at least to take all the tags off. This is three full loads of laundry---just baby clothes. Of course we did get a box of hand-me-downs from Cousin Walker, but this is still an exorbatent amount of clothes. Doug says he'll never be able to wear all these and he's probably right.

36 Weeks!

We have officially reached 36 weeks, which means less that 4 weeks left. I'm still hoping for early, but that seems really soon all of a sudden. Two weeks early would be only 2 weeks away! (I do realize that is simple math but---2 weeks!) For those of you who haven't seen me in a while here is the 36 week belly picture--I know I've really let myself go :)

Baby Presents

We have gotten many amazing baby presents. I will try not to post pictures of every single thing, but I couldn't resist a few. This is Mac's first hot rod and keeping the engine warm until he gets here is what will be his favorite stuffed animal (if you can't see it well its a little green horse, the floppy feet are adorable)

Try to ignore the wilting plant in the background. It will pull through, it always does.

Learning to have a baby

So we attended our first baby class this Sunday. It was FIVE HOURS long! There is a second session this coming Sunday as well. You would think that after that many hours we would be getting some kind of license to deliver the baby ourselves, but no this is just the information that we need to go to the hospital and let them handle everything.
Of course we had to watch the video of a birth, one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen. I've watched open heart surgery in person and it was fun and interesting, this was not. Of course that time I knew I wasn't going on the table to be cut on next so maybe that helped a little. The video did very little to diminish my fears, in fact, now I have all kinds of new things to worry about. However, Doug handled it well and didn't think it was that terrible and disgusting. At least I can relax and know that he won't pass out on me or anything.

Coming Soon

Well, with a baby on the way, we thought we'd join the rest of the family in posting random details about our life on the internet.

Seriously, we thought we'd try to keep everyone updated, but we're underachievers, so don't expect too much.

This picture is from the 20 weeks ultrasound and you can see Mac sucking his thumb.

We are super excited about his arrival and promise to post pictures when he gets here.