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? :)

Ziggy and Babraham

It's Thanksgiving weekend and Brett attended the VT vs. UVa game for the first time in a few years. (Usually we are in Kansas @ Grandma Barb's house and Brett just has to grab highlights off ESPN.) When he came home on Saturday night, we had dinner with Vik and Sat. As always it was wonderful to see them, but we had even more to talk about because they are expecting!!!
YAY! CONGRATULATIONS VIK & SAT!!!

I wanted to wait to post this until they had announced to all our friends that they were pregnant too. (They did so by sending the cutest Christmas card of Calley Dog with a sign that told us all she resolved to be the best big sister ever...it was adorable!) Brett had already let the cat out of the bag when Maureen and Kavitha overheard him congratulating Sat's parents at our shower a few weeks ago. DOH!

We had originally reserved a table for six because we weren't sure if Satish and Monica were going to join us. We decided though that we were almost still six at this point though...Ziggy and I count as about 1.9 and Sat and Babraham (as Brett's been calling the Abraham baby) count as 1.3. :)

Nesting? You betcha!

I don't think it's just pregnancy...the nesting instinct is deeply rooted in me and has nothing to do with the additional hormones. I just like things clean and orderly. Some of you are now asking the obvious question...how then do I reconcile this desire for clean and orderly AND live happily with Brett??? Well it is no easy task I assure you! Time to call in the troops...check out my Dyson Fleet below:I'm kidding...we really don't need all these Dysons. But right now it's what we have. We started out with the "Animal" (the purple one). Go figure it was our 28th birthday present to each other in 2004, the year we moved in to this house. While some may think a vacuum cleaner is an odd birthday present, I will tell you it was some of the best money we've ever spent! So you can imagine how devastated I was when it tipped over when Brett was using it (hey, at least he was cleaning!) and flat-lined. Oh the humanity!

Brett found one of the yellow ones on Craigslist. However, the woman selling it wound up giving it to him for free b/c she said she believed that despite it's infamous claims, her Dyson was indeed losing suction. Blasphemy! I just couldn't bare not having vacuumed in 2 days and bought another. Hence our little Dyson family depicted above. I think they're kind of cute! :)

Baby Shower

This weekend we were "showered" with the generosity of our friends and family and received some truly terrific gifts to help us prepare for Ziggy's arrival. Thank you Sat and Daisy for throwing such a wonderful party!!!

Afterwards, we tested the guys (Brett, Vik, and Satish) and had them play the two games the ladies played at the shower. Wouldn't you know it...Vik won the "Guess how big mom is" game and Satish won the "Celebrity baby/mom" game. Go figure BabyDaddy Brett did not win either (despite his valiant attempts at cheating! Let that be a lesson to you...cheaters never win Daddy!

Meemaw, Aunt Kris, and Grandma Sherry and Papa Rich were in town for the event. Here's a shot of the Kirk women together:

Happy Halloween!

We went to our neighborhood Halloween party hosted by the Powells this weekend. I was an oven with a bun inside (that really is my belly peaking out through the cardboard cut-out oven)...and Brett was the baker. :)
Remaining bake time: 8 weeks!!!

Up, up, and away...not exactly

We went to a Wine and Hot Air Balloon Festival in the Shenandoahs this weekend. Unfortunately it was too windy for the balloons to launch, but Brett, Mark, and Stephen enjoyed the wine; Karen and I enjoyed the funnel cake; and almost-2-year-old Eli enjoyed the kites and the hay. It was a beautiful fall day and a great way to spend a Saturday!

A visit from Meemaw

We were treated to a visit from Meemaw this weekend. My mom had a training class @ FBI headquarters and was able to stay with us from Thursday evening to Sunday morning. Unfortunately Brett was either at work or @ VT most of the time she was here. The only real time they got together was commuting in to DC on Friday morning. But I thoroughly enjoyed some wonderful time with my mom! Boy did she take care of us! She walked the dogs. She cooked us meals for the week. She did the laundry and cleaned up. It was Fantastic! I wish she lived closer...no, not because she's just so good at all those things and at taking care of her daughter, but because it was just so wonderful to have her here. I love you Mom!!!

btw, here's a few picts of Brett and super cutie lil' Hokie Riley Sommer and friends at this weekend's tailgate:

Do not ask me what they are doing in the last picture...Brett was again stingy with his story telling. :p

100 Days To Go!!!

They say the average pregnancy is between 266 and 280 days. As of today, we have 100 days left until our original due date of December 28, 2007. The doctor advises that very rarely are due dates actually met. But nonetheless, a milestone is reached. whoo hoo! It really does seem as if these past few weeks have flown by. I still remember eagerly awaiting the first doctor's appointment, then the next to hear the heartbeat, then the sonogram, then to feel the kicks. I cannot say that I am eagerly awaiting labor and delivery though- lol!

Serenity Now!
Brett recently made me pose for this picture that he thinks is so funny. The buddah belly is in full effect.

One in the oven...a little Hokie bird that is!

*Daddy Post*

Most kids wait until they are juniors or seniors in high school before they begin touring college campuses. Not Ziggy, he had his first VT campus tour this weekend - in utero!



The "tour" began with the longstanding Hokie tradition of pre-game tailgating. Thanks to mommy, he had some good eats and some exercise – VT bean bag tossin’ style. Afterwards the Luhring family (and friends) packed up and headed over to Lane Stadium. At the game, we took in some sun (a little too much) and some football (Hokies beat Ohio 28 – 7).

Following the game, Ziggy's tour of the beautiful VT campus was documented.

First stop: the Drill Field. The same Drill Field daddy walked across some 13 years ago with his dad. Next stop was the 4/16 memorial in front of Burruss Hall, where Ziggy got his first dose of what it really means to be a Hokie. The scene there was very moving. Ziggy continued his campus tour by taking a quiet stroll past the Duck Pond.

All that walking got the little guy hungry…so it was off to the next Hokie tailgating tradition – dinner at Hooters! What better way to top off the day!? Thanks to mommy, he got some more calcium in the form of grilled cheese…it'll be a couple of years before he can eat the hot wings like daddy. ;-)

What a great weekend! No pressure little guy, but for the next few decades, you'll have many more VT campus visits...after that, Mommy and Daddy will visit you at college in Blacksburg! Daddy can't wait to see how the Hokies are doing in 2025!

Growing a tax write-off

I love the IRS! huh, what? :) The IRS is my government client. I usually go to their Maryland facility about once a week. Last week, for the first time, someone I didn't know commented on the baby. I noted it as my first "stranger comment" and it was awesome! One of the security guards said, "How is your baby?" to me and at first I thought I heard her wrong. But then she smiled and looked at my belly and I said, "Oh! Thank you so much for asking!!! The baby is doing just fine!"

Then today one of the woman I see from time to time in the office (but who is not our client and I don't work with) saw me and noticed my belly and said, "Oh my! How exciting! Is this your first?" Then she launched in to a bunch of questions. It was so fun! IRS employees in particular find Brett's "tax deduction" comments thoroughly amusing. When people ask when the baby is due, and I respond December 28, they usually say, "A Christmas baby! Or maybe New Year's baby!" and I tell them how babydaddy has said, "We gotta get this kid out this year to take full advantage of the tax deduction! If Dick Clark comes on, we're going to the hospital to induce!!!"
Yes Ziggy, your daddy is funny...almost as funny as he is budget conscious! :p

Labor Day Weekend

On Friday night, I saw the baby move for the first time...VERY funny! At home with only the dogs, I laughed out loud for a good 15 minutes. I was sitting there and could feel him moving and happened to look down. My whole belly had these tiny little shakes in response to his kicks (or elbows or punches...who knows for sure?). I was cracking up! I emailed Brett to tell him we had a new trick to show him when he got home. (He was in Blacksburg living it up like a college kid in anticipation of the 2007 Hokie football season opener the following day.)

On Saturday, I watched an emotional ESPN College Gameday. It was definitely not just the hormones, the show was well done with many clips of "We are Virginia Tech" and stories remembering the victims and attempting to ramp up the 2007 season. Following the game and on Sunday too, I mistakenly watched many "Labor Day baby specials," telling the labor and delivery stories of various women, on tv. What was I thinking?! eeesh! Sometimes ignorance really is bliss!

On Monday, Brett and I attempted to register @ Babies R Us (BRU). I say "attempted" b/c it's harder than it sounds. When we registered for our wedding, we gleefully went around beeping fun stuff with the scanner gun while a nice guy from Bed, Bath, and Beyond walked us through the store telling us all the cool gadgets that we might want for our house and for married life. We were all alone in BRU and probably couldn't have looked like two more clueless fools. Sure, we were armed with the BRU checklist and the Baby Bargains book, but still we had no idea what was going on or what we would need. Heck, Brett didn't know what most of the stuff was for!

There were a few times when I was literally doubled over in laughter though. When we saw the "snuzzler" designed for baby head and body support, Brett says, "Oh damn! Look at that thing...we're getting it and I'm using it! That thing looks so comfortable! I want it!" Then we saw a sort of pad that you could put underneath the baby in the carseat and right on the packaging it said that it was for "diaper blowouts." Brett lost it! He said, "This thing is just cool b/c it says 'diaper blowouts' right on the packaging!" We got a good laugh at that...indeed, we are mature enough to be parents!

Bending it like Beckham

Be careful what you wish for! A few weeks ago I was having many pleading conversations with our growing little boy asking for him to give me a sign that all was well and to let me feel him move. I was worried b/c I didn't think I was feeling any movement and knew that around that time I should have been. I determined that one of two things was going on-
#1 I have another disobedient little boy
(in addition to Romey Domey Duper Dog) or
#2 I was a clueless mom

Yup! Turns out I'm a clueless mom (but I'm letting myself slide and utilizing the "I'm a first-timer" defense). Ziggy is proving to be a very obedient little one and now that I recognize what it is, I've felt lots of regular movement. As we were driving home from work today, he must been in a weird position, b/c I could really feel him and it was making me LOL. It really tickled. I had to say, "Hey buddy, what's going on in there? Can you slow it down a bit so that we can safely drive home?"

***

This past weekend Brett was able to feel slight movement. We were relaxing on Friday night and I said, "Okay, Ziggy's pretty active now and you may be able to feel this." So we laid together quietly and Brett felt a little kick. His face was so awesome! It is a beautiful mental picture very similar to the one I have captured in my brain from when he read the pregnancy test for the first time. Boy, this is fun!!!

Take me out to the ballgame

We celebrated my 31st birthday @ Camden Yards. Kristine had her company's awesome seats (4 rows behind the visiting team's dugout) and invited us to the Orioles vs. Twins game. The O's lost, but we did get to see two home runs and a broken bat. We documented the event as Ziggy's first sports outing. Here's a picture of our "growing family" at the game. Brett notes that there's only a couple weeks left until the truly important sports events (Hokie football games) begin. It is yet to be determined if Ziggy will be attending a Hokie game in utero or not...it depends on how we feel I guess.

Redneck shower

Happy Birthday Brett! Guess what he got for his 31st birthday? A hot water heater. Dude, are we old or what? lol! Nah, we're not old; but we are homeowners! Our hot water heater went ka-put today. This morning after taking a lukewarm shower that was ice cold by the end, I suspected something was wrong. :( We've purchased a new hot water heater and the installers should be here tomorrow. However tonight Brett decided he needed to take a shower. He says, "No big deal...it's like 70 degrees outside. I'll just shower with the hose...it'll still be warmer than inside." I don't think I have laughed this hard in a while. Out the front door he goes wearing his bathing suit and carrying shampoo, soap, and a towel. He turns off the porch light "for privacy" he says. LOL! We both were hysterical laughing as I took pictures documenting his redneck shower.

Lather and Rinse

Brett's real 31st birthday present was a pair of Heely's...you know, the shoes that you can skate on? The ones that 10 year old kids go whizzing by you in the mall with? Yeah, those. Brett used to look at those kids and say, "They should make those for adults." Imagine how thrilled I was the day I learned they DO make adult sized ones! With just a little practice, Brett got the hang of them pretty quickly. We were laughing thinking that one day we may get a pair of these for Ziggy. Brett goes, "Yeah, I'll be telling him about the pair I had and he'll say...cool, you had Heely's when you were little Dad? and I'll say, No son, I got them for my 31st birthday."

Surprise! and A View From The Top

We were in Denver from August 8-12 for the annual Voth Family Reunion. It was also our in-person opportunity to inform Rich and Sherry that they were going to be grandparents. It was a neat surprise. Originally we had planned to let my protruding belly and a special maternity top speak for themselves to inform the grandparents-to-be. However, we altered our announcement plans b/c Brett's parents picked us up via airport drive-by as opposed to their usual meeting us in the main terminal and waiting with us at baggage claim. So I wore a larger shirt to not spoil the surprise.

We went to lunch and when we were seated, I went to the bathroom and removed the larger shirt to reveal my "Pregnant (not fat)" tank top. I sat down across from them and said, "With all this food, it's as if you guys are eating for two...when in fact only I AM!" It took a brief moment of processing what I said and reading my shirt for them to react. But indeed they, like my parents, are super excited to become grandparents.

While we were in Colorado, we visited Mount Evans and drove the winding road to the summit (14,264 feet up). We, of course, documented the visit, but truth be told, Ziggy did not like it too much and let me know it by making me nauseous. Also, despite the fact that it was 80 degrees at the bottom of the mountain, it was in the 50's and SNOWING at the summit! brrr! We took a quick photo to document the moment, but I told Ziggy that if he wanted to return some day, it'd be with his Daddy and Grandpa b/c Sherry and I had had our fill of mountain peaks, despite the (literally) breathtaking views. :)

oh boy

Yup, it's a BOY! At our appointment today, the ultrasound tech confirmed that all organs are functioning well and that we are expecting a son! Thanks to Harshna for lending me her maternity clothes, one of which is this fun shirt. :)