Friday Night at the Luhrings

Yup, this is what Friday night @ 8:30 looks like at our house. :)

Dear Makers of the Soothie Pacifier,

I heart you! You are to new mothers what the anesthesiologist is to pregnant women in labor...their new best friends! Sure, they make my kid look like a little blowfish, but he's happy so I'm happy!

These specific types of pacifiers are generally used in hospitals. For some reason, Loudoun Hospital did not have them. I recently bought some at Target. These things are like baby crack! They are Awesome! They are the latest addition to our "Soothing Brady Bag 'O Tricks." Other tricks in this bag include the Swaddle Me blanket, holding Brady high on your shoulder, turning him over your knee, jiggling him, the "shh" noise, running the vacuum cleaner (even though I know this one is calming b/c it mimics the white noise sound from the womb, I like to think that my son is just like his mama and likes things Clean- so naturally he loves the vacuum!), :) doing laps around the house while chugging like a choo-choo train, singing, and a combination of all these things. Man, being a parent is fun! It's too bad babies don't remember these moments...I imagine they are even more fun for them!

27 Dresses and 6 Moms

It's Mom's Movie Wednesday at the new theaters in Brambleton. Too cool! They show a matinée and babies (and any associated crying, diapering, feeding, etc.) are welcome. Brady and I along with Amanda (+ Jackson), Danisa (+ Kellen), Nichole (+ Avani), Keisha (+ Israel), and Iris (+ Carys) went to see 27 Dresses. It was really neat to see all these moms and their strollers or car seats in the theater. Brady's first movie in the theater turned out to be a pretty good chick flick and I enjoyed it. Brady mostly watched the backs of his eyelids...and that was just fine.

I forgot to take a picture of all of us until we were walking out of the theater. Rather than stop everyone, I just took a quick shot from the back.

1 month old

Happy Birthday Brady! I really cannot believe it's been a month since he was born! Brett says he can because he feels more than a month's worth of exhaustion. ;) I have felt tired, but not in a bad way. Sure, I've had my moments but honestly this past month has flown by and it has really been wonderful. I'm told it only gets better. *sigh* Life is good.

btw, little man is wearing one of our Old Navy steals. I love it! He looks like a mini grown-up and it only cost us $2! :)

Update: Brady had his 1 month wellness visit on Monday.

Weight: 10 lbs. 8 oz. (75th percentile)
Height: 23 inches (95th percentile)

Whoa! He's gained 2 pounds in 2 weeks! He's a good little eater. Brett is pleased with his height. We've heard that these early stats are not necessarily forecasts of the future. But still, the weigh-ins and height measurements are the highlight of his doctor's visits and really make them fun. (They're sort of like hearing the heartbeat @ prenatal appointments...very exciting!)

Who wears the pants around here?

Brady does of course!

Brady's umbilical cord stump is finally completely gone. The majority of it fell off at about the 2 week mark, but there was still a little bit leftover. This past week during a diaper change we noticed a beautiful clean and clear belly button! So now little man is able to wear pants. Today was his first time wearing them. This cute little Dino outfit is from great Aunt Carol, one of Meemaw's closest friends. Thank you!!!

Fun Friday

Brady and I had a super fun lunch date today with Veronica, Courtney, Joshua (who is almost 4), and Bailey (who is 2). When we arrive (late, of course!) we are greeted by the happy faces of Joshua and Bailey. It is so cute to see little people get excited about a baby. Bailey carries her little baby doll everywhere. Her smile was TOO cute when in response to her "I have a baby!" proclamation, I said, "I do too!"

I had posted previously about the great parenting in our neighborhood being evidenced in the happy children we are surrounded by. Here's documentation of that. I wish the picture could have captured Joshua and Bailey's squeals of delight and laughter that put a smile on everyone's face!
To see more great pictures of these happy kids (and their older sister Rebekah too), visit Courtney's blog. You'll also get to read about their adventures...I guarantee you will laugh out loud (these kids are adorable and SO funny)...I sure do! Enjoy!

Upon seeing my camera, Joshua and Bailey informed me that they knew how to take pictures too and asked if they could. Joshua took this one of Courtney, Veronica, and me all by himself!

Bailey took this one of her brother almost by herself (I only provided minimal assistance...she chose the distance and pressed the button). We reviewed the picture afterwards and she goes, "oh good!" I definitely agree!

This evening Brady and I picked Brett up at the bus station. Then we all headed to Moby Dick's for kabobs. It was our first family dinner "out." Brady cried a bit. But the restaurant was loud enough that it wasn't too bad. Brett took a picture of Brady's pouty face. (Note how Brett and Bailey have similar photographic talents!)

Some fun picts

Today is the first snow since Brady's arrival. We've spent the day all toasty warm inside the house watching this beautiful winter day evolve. Below are two picts I took of little man today that make me LOL:

"Oh it's snowing outside! What's that?"
"Yikes! Daddy's out driving in this stuff?"

Meeting Brady's New Friends

Today we met up with some of the members of my "Expectant Moms Group." 5 of the 9 of us have evolved to the New Moms Group. Nichole's daughter Avani and Brady share their Dec. 20th birthday and Christin's son Oliver was born the day before! We had joked while pregnant saying, "Wouldn't it be funny if we were all at the Birthing Inn at the same time?" ha ha! Well we were!!! Kiasha's son Israel and Danisa's son Kellen were born a month earlier in November.Nichole (and Avani), me (and Brady), Danisa (and Kellen), Keisha (and Israel), Christin (and Oliver)

Out and About

Today was a BIG day!!! Following prompting from our friend Veronica and assistance from our friend Amanda (and her 3 month old son Jackson), Brady and I went out for the first time without Daddy. Amanda and Jackson came over to our house to help me get ready. Man! You'd think we were going away for a week! I was all sorts of paranoid about forgetting something. Amanda was patient and calm and helped me pack the diaper bag and put Brady in his car seat. Then she supervised me putting the car seat in the car and assured me that she and Jackson would be following in her car right behind me and if I was freaking out to just pull over and she'd be right there. The trip to the mall is about 7 miles (lol!). But for all of those miles, every muscle in my body was tensed up. Brady squeaked a few times, but all was well. It was SUCH a FUN day!!!

I had a little trouble getting the car seat out of the car, but Amanda coached me through it. :)
Victory! (I had Amanda document our success.)

Here we are in Old Navy...where we found a ton of deals and steals (my favs!!!) in the clearance section. We finally decided we'd better head to the checkout when the pile I had accumulated looked as if it was going to topple on Brady. We got 11 baby items (onesies, pants, and shirts) for Brady, 2 tops that I can use for nursing, a pair of sweatpants, 2 zippered sweatshirts (I live in fleece these days!), and a sweatshirt and t-shirt for Brett...all for $52!!! whoo hoo! As if I wasn't already having a great day! Anyone who knows me knows how much I LOVE bargain shopping...this definitely classifies as not just a deal, but a Steal!

The boys were hungry by then. So we decided to find the cleanest bathroom and let them have lunch. We hit the jackpot at Nordstrom's. WOW! The bathrooms and "women's lounge" in there are Awesome! We took pictures in the lounge:

and also took some of the boys together. TOO CUTE!

"Hi Pal!"
"Dude, we're almost the same length.
But you've totally got me beat on head circumference."
"This is how we roll."

The four of us spent over an hour there just hanging out! :) Neither Amanda nor I shop at Nordstom's and we got a kick out of looking at the price tags of some of the outfits...we were LOL at the realization that a zippered hoodie (like the one I had just bought for $4) was $88 here! But hey, they've gotta pay for those nice bathrooms (and the live piano player) somehow!

3 weeks old

Happy Birthday Brady! :) He doesn't look so happy about it in this picture, does he?

This week was somewhat of a busy one. It's all relative these days..."busy" now means something completely different than it did just one month ago. Daddy returned to work on Monday. That was an adjustment for us all. I was a little worried about having to do things on my own. But we had a good week: Brady did great and is beginning to sleep by himself in his pack-n-play bassinet or in his crib. Sandy and Romey are adjusting and realizing that there are just times that I cannot take them outside. Also, I think I finally have the bug Brett's been battling for the past three weeks. Luckily it doesn't seem to be affecting Brady. He sometimes sounds a little congested, but we figure some of that is still his "baby dust." I'm hoping that I'm passing some of my antibodies to him and making him strong.

Brady also made his public debut this week. I know, I'm totally paranoid but I haven't permitted the little man to be out in public (other than his doctor's appointments) until now. On Wednesday, we went to Babies R Us, Target, and Pet Smart (if that doesn't give you a glimpse of how exciting we are, what does? I love it though and wouldn't change our lives for anything!). I still haven't gone anywhere with him by myself though. I'm such a wimp!

2 weeks old

Happy Birthday Brady! I promise we'll stop being silly parents and switch over to months soon! But it still cracks me up to measure human life in weeks. :)

Stats from his 2 week doctor appointment:

Weight: 8 lbs. 10 oz. (50th percentile)
Height: 22 1/8 inches (90th percentile)

Let's Go Hokies!

Daddy and Brady watched the Orange Bowl today. Earlier in the day, Brady took a nap and dreamed pleasantly of a Hokie win:
Then he enjoyed a visit with fellow Hokie Auntie Monica:
Then he posed gangsta style for a photo (thanks to Auntie Jen for the Hokie gear!). His baby Hokie paci was one of his (and Daddy's) Christmas presents.Touchdown Hokies!
Boo! Brady shows his displeasure at the loss to KU. :(

Happy New Year!

Brady was the only one partying in the new year. Already the kid is cooler than his parents! ;) But hey, we take sleep when we can get it. Happy 2008!

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? :)