1 week old

Little man Brady is one week old today. How did that happen? Wow! Time flies. It was a truly emotional day for Mommy. From the 4 AM feeding where I bawled to Brady telling him "one week ago, you were still in Mommy's tummy and we were going to the hospital" through 11:05 that night when we sang Happy Birthday to Brady...it was a very emotional day as I reminisced about what was happening "one week ago today." Brett was very patient with me; as were our parents. They allowed the three of us to be holed up in our bedroom to have quality family time. The grandmas made and delivered us breakfast in bed! Brady also had his first sponge bath today. He did Great! It was not nearly as bad as we were anticipating. He actually seemed to enjoy it.

I truly love being a mom and love my little family more than words can describe.

Man's (and baby's) Best Friend

What can I say? We're a dog-friendly household...Romey and Sandy were our first children. :) Despite the germ-o-phobe that I am, I just can't deny Romey's desire to be close to and love on his little bro.

No diggity!

But we're slowly figuring it out. ;p

Merry Christmas!

Some pictures from Christmas:

It was a nice relatively warm day, so after dinner, we all (Mommy, Daddy, both sets of grandparents, and the dogs) took Brady on his first walk.

Romey is a big brother

Romey has been a surprisingly good boy adjusting to the new addition in our home. He can be protective and will often get excited and seek to inform us that "something's wrong and you need to help that little guy." He tracks Brady and gets a little worked up when Brady cries, coos, or makes pretty much any sound that reminds him of Brady's presence. Following is an example of the big (furry) brother's concern for his baby:

Funny stuff!

It's SUPER DADDY!

"Who was that masked man?"
In an attempt to keep his identity secret, Super Daddy wore a surgical mask for the first few days. Just kidding! Brett caught the bug that's been going around and it peaked the first few days of Brady's life. He was worried about making the little man sick. The hospital staff advised him that he really just needed to ensure he was washing his hands well. But Daddy didn't want to take any chances, so he also wore a surgical mask. He told Brady he was "Ninja Daddy." Here's our hero giving hungry little man some formula to supplement the colostrum that just wasn't satisfying him at that point.

"It's a chef...It's a maid...No, it's Super Daddy!!!"
In addition to his "baby whisperer" powers, Super Daddy also possesses powers to clean and cook (with a little direction from Mommy). Yay Daddy!!! You saved the day (and make Mommy very happy)!!!

Going Home

The new resident of 21520 and I were discharged from the hospital on Saturday evening. Santa's Helper is on his way home!

Here he is!!!

9:40 PM - 11:05 PM Happy Birthday Brady!













1 hour and 25 minutes of concentration and pushing by me and counting and encouragement from Brett and we welcomed our son, Brady Allen Luhring. It was an amazing process and truly was love at first sight. Brady tipped the scales @ 8 lbs, 2 oz and was 20 inches long. He scored 9's (out of 10) on his APGAR tests and the doctors confirmed that all was well.

"I heart the anesthesiologist and the epidural"

9:00 AM Finally some pain relief

My new best friend arrived on the scene about 2 hours after admission. Her name was Lorraine and she was the anesthesiologist on duty. By the time she left the room, I was no longer feeling the contractions and was able to rest comfortably, talk with Brett, and watch tv for what I didn't realize then would be another 12 hours or so!

"It's time"

1:45 AM Active Phase of Stage 1 begins

I finally went to bed at 12:15 and was woken up by some pretty strong contractions around 1:45 AM. I monitored on my own for about an hour. Then I woke Brett up around 3:00 and told him it was time to start timing contractions. They were coming pretty quickly(from 2-5 minutes apart) and getting more intense. But still we just weren't sure. I did not want to call the doctor too soon. Brett timed and I breathed through the growing intensity of the contractions until about 4:15 when we finally called the doctor. (I didn't want Brett taking pictures during this process, but now looking back, I'm glad he did! )

The doc instructed us to get to the hospital. Here we go! We arrived at The Birthing Inn @ 4:45 AM. I was hooked up to a machine to monitor contractions and the baby's heartbeat and was examined by a nurse. She confirmed the intensity of the contractions I was experiencing but reported that I was not dilated at all. DOH! This got us nervous because we were told that if you are not at least 4 cm dilated, typically you are sent home. I could not go back home at this point. The pain was very intense. The nurse consulted with the doctor and we were given instructions to walk the halls for an hour to see if this helped us along any.

We walked from 5:30 to 6:30 AM with contractions still coming every 2-5 minutes. Needless to say, it was a looooong hour! Breathing through the pain was becoming much more difficult.

At 6:30, I was examined again only to be told zero progress had been made. DOUBLE DOH! The nurse informed the doctor that according to the readings on the monitor I was in true labor. We were admitted to the hospital @ 7:00 AM.

12/19/2007 - 6:00 PM: "I think something's happening..."

Early or Latent Phase of Stage 1 Labor begins...

I began seeing signs of labor and feeling light cramping and told Brett, "I think we may be in labor." He wasn't really believing me because honestly the early phase of Stage 1 labor is nothing like you see in the movies. But I just knew something was happening. I decided to do as is recommended in the pregnancy books and keep moving and distracting myself. I set about finishing packing my suitcase, doing laundry, changing the sheets on the bed, cleaning up (in other words, more nesting). Then we went to Babies R Us to purchase a baby book to have the hospital nurses stamp footprints in and even went to Circuit City to look at video cameras. I can see why Brett didn't think anything was really happening. We were sort of just business as usual. But in my heart and head, I was so anxious and excited!!!

We took one last belly picture...here it is of me and our "three kids" as of Dec. 19, 2007.

Who rocks?

My mom bought me this cute maternity shirt that says, "Baby Rocks." Sathya bought us this cute bib that says "My Mom Rocks." Here's a picture with both these things. I think it's especially neat b/c when Brett and I were first dating we used to say, "You rock" to each other as a sort of precursor to "I love you."

Ziggy, you rock AND we love you!!!

To Daddy From Ziggy

We sent this email to Daddy today:

2008 Chickazey Christmas Party

Our annual neighborhood Christmas party was this weekend. I'm so glad Brett was taking pictures (and video) this year. These parties are always a good time! This one was no exception with a lot of fun and laughs!

Mario brought out a Christmas trivia game and the Chickazey Holiday version of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? began! You'll see below that Kim leverages all her resources and combines games utilizing "phone a friend" assistance from Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? (btw, in response to the question Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? Mario does...we've yet to find out if his lottery tickets were winners though!)

How many Chickazey adults does it take to recite the 12 Days of Christmas? Too many! :)


More pictures from the party...

High Tea in Chickazey

The wonderful women of our neighborhood gathered today for a ladies tea party in honor of our soon-to-be-youngest Chickazey member. Veronica, Kim, and Courtney hosted and it was beautiful and Yummy! It was SO much fun to spend time with these amazing women! Brett and I have always said we are truly blessed to have found a home in this neighborhood...among these families. The evidence of great parenting is in the happy children we are surrounded by. We can only hope our own children are just like our little neighbors. We've often thought of securing that deal by having our neighbors raise our kids...think they'll go for that? :)