Blue sunshine

Judah has jaundice and needs to be under the blue lights, which means we aren't really able to hold him much. He does look like a pretty cool dude under all the lights though!!! He just lays there with his hands up around his head and his feet in the air - with those "sun glasses" he looks like he's out relaxing in the sunshine.

I gave him his bath tonight - can't wait to be able to do it at home without a nurse over my shoulder talking to me like I am eight years old!!!

Paul burping Judah

Judah and Paul's first diaper change

Cuddled up in his blanket from Great-great Aunt Polly

Judah is doing so well! I spent the whole day at the hospital with him - they have taken out his feeding tube and he has just one IV on him that will stay on him until he is released from the hospital. We still don't know when that will be. He isn't digesting his food well, and he isn't eating very much so they want that to be better before they will let him come home.

He was weighed today at 5lb 10.3oz. We still haven't a clue how long he is. We have asked and it wasn't written on his chart, so no one knows! Tomorrow I think we'll just measure him ourselves =)

Judah eyes open

Here I come - ready or not!!

Judah Spencer James Morris

January 27th, 2007

6:03 pm

5lbs 14oz

His first picture - taken moments after birth by his proud daddy

Such a sad picture - all those wires and tubes! This was Saturday night, most of the wires were taken off Sunday morning.

Daddy and Judah's first cuddle

Mummy and Judah's first cuddle

Judah bubbling

He's got the cutest head of hair!

Daddy holding Judah

Daddy changing Judah's first diaper

His birth story

Saturday, January 27th, 2007 (I was 35 weeks along) I woke up at 8 am because something was leaking down my leg. I thought nothing of it and got up to use the bathroom. The leaking was slow but constant, and it didn’t stop, and I couldn’t hold it in. Thinking it could be that my water had broke I got online to Google it and ask a couple of online friends what they thought. From my description of it I was told it sounded like it and that I should call the hospital. Knowing the hospital would just tell me to go in I decided I should probably find someone who would be able to drive me to the hospital – Paul was an hour and a half away working, and he wasn’t answering his phone! I ended up calling Tammy, one of the ladies from the church here that I have known for three weeks! She got to the apartment quickly and brought me to the hospital. At this point Paul knew I was going in to be checked out.

The doctor examined me and told me that my water had broken and I wouldn’t be leaving the hospital without delivering!! I was excited – but not able to get a hold of Paul!! I kept calling him, and others from the church tried calling him. He was finally able to call me back and when he told the Sgt what was going on he was told he could come back here – two of the guys at work were told to drive him back – the driver being a professional race car driver!

While all this was going on Tammy was still with me, and another lady, Ashley, joined us, and a little after that another new friend – Jamie- joined us too! My body wasn’t doing contractions, and the doctors were trying to find my medical charts in order to figure out what to do about cutting out the cerclage, so I had everyone play a game with me.

Paul got to the hospital about 1:00pm, and our friends left soon after that. At this point I wasn’t quite 1 cm dilated, and there were still no contractions.

At 2:45 the doctors came in to cut out my stitch, it came out without any problems, and once it was cut I was measured at 3cm dilated.

At 3:15 they decided to give me Pitocin in an IV to encourage the contractions. The contractions started soon after that. Ouch! I had opted to try this without any pain medication, and there was definitely a lot of pain throughout all the contractions! My nurse had told me that when she’d had her babies (twenty years ago) she hadn’t had anything, so I asked her if she would be encouraging and supportive of me – that I needed positive people to help me get through it.

At 5:40 the nurse came in and asked me how I was feeling. I told her – through clenched teeth and with great effort – that it hurt. She said to tell her like I was mad, with a lot of emotion how I felt. At that moment the baby dropped, and I seriously yelled at my nurse and told her “I FEEL LIKE I AM GOING TO POOP!” I think she actually laughed out loud at me over that comment.

The nurse called the doctors into the room – there were so many people in there! In the end I had four doctors, two med students, three nurses and two or three student nurses. (And that was just for me, Judah had four or five different doctors/nurses that came in right after he was born!)

At 5:45 I was told to start pushing. To think… I had thought contractions hurt!! My contractions didn’t last long – only 30 seconds – but they were making me push even when there weren’t contractions as the baby’s heartbeat was slow and they were concerned. I surprised myself as I yelled and screamed throughout most of the pushing (my throat hurt for the next eight hours!) I kept telling them it was too hot in there and asking them to just give me a break and that I couldn’t do it anymore. The doctor told me that they were going to get forceps to pull the baby out if I wouldn’t push. Later on my nurse told me that I yelled a loud “No, no! I’ll do it. I’ll push.” Minutes later Judah came out – it was 6:03. I had only pushed for 18 minutes!! I was so sure I had been pushing and screaming forever! I got a five second glance at my baby before they took him to NICU.

I ended up with second degree tearing, which they stitched closed. They kept telling me that they were using a numbing “stick” – I presumed they meant a Popsicle stick type thing. I didn’t pay much attention to them, but when they told me that they were using it for the last time (about the seventh time they’d used it!) I decided to look and see what they were doing. When I saw the needle (aka “the numbing stick”) I screamed. One of the doctors asked me what was wrong. I told her I’d just seen the needle. She looked shocked and told me that they’d been using it over and over again. I told her she’d always told me it was a stick, that seeing it was a needle startled me. She laughed at me and told me that was the highlight of her day.

At 9:00pm they took me down to the NICU and I got to really look at Judah for the first time. I wasn’t allowed to hold him though, and he was covered in wires and tubes, so there wasn’t much to touch, or really even see. We didn’t stay with him long – it was so hard seeing our little boy with all these things poking into him and to not be able to hold him. I was taken to my recovery room shortly after 9. I was pretty miserable and cried a lot, just missing the baby. At 12am Paul fell asleep, but I wasn’t able to. So at 1:30am I woke him up and asked if he would take me down to NICU to see Judah. He kindly took me down (and then left me there, he hadn’t had much sleep the last 48 hours because of his work schedule!) I stayed with Judah for the next two hours, just sitting beside him. The nurse let me help with washing him, but I still wasn’t allowed to hold him. I finally went back to my room and eventually fell asleep.

Sunday morning he was taken off the oxygen and we were able to hold him for the first time. He still had IVs and other tubes and wires attached to him, but at least we could be near him!

Random Fact about us:

At breakfast this morning I realized something.

It was the first time in our married lives eating grapefruit together!!!

It was made obvious that we'd never had such an experience eating that fruit together when I passed him the sugar bowl and he asked why.

-

My thoughts -

'Why?!?! You ask why? Seriously, who DOESN'T eat that fruit without sugar on top?'

-

His thoughts -

'Who DOES eat that fruit with sugar on it?'

-

So I ate with, he ate without.

-

But the grapefruit differences don't end there.

Ah no.

He wanted a 'grapefruit spoon' to eat his grapefruit with. I shudder at the thought of eating fruit with a spoon with sharp pokey things at the end of it.

And while he wanted the spoon, I wanted a 'grapefruit knife' - the bent one that curves around the fruit and loosens all the pieces for you.

I don't think he believed me that such a knife exists.

-

Seeing as we didn't have either available we used a regular knife and a regular spoon.

It tasted just great =)

Now that you can call Ugli

We bought an ugli fruit today!! Neither of us had ever heard of it before, so we decided we had to buy it to check it out. We haven't cut into it yet, but in an attempt to learn more about this fruit I found this website dedicated to the fruit - www.ugli.com. =) How funny is that?

Thursday Thirteen #10

Thirteen Talents I have acquired in the past eight months...

1. I have mastered the art of looking ‘so tiny’ and looking ‘ready to pop any moment’ -within a five minute time span
2. I can huff and puff
3. I can out eat my husband
4. I can gain five pounds in one week
5. I can make bending over to pick something up off the floor seem like an Olympic event
6. I can sleep on my left side
7. I have kept our apartment cleaner than I have ever kept anything before in my life.
8. I can talk to my belly for extended periods of time
9. I have mastered the art of getting anything out of my husband at any hour of the day or night
10. I have written a birth plan – and understand it =)
11. I waddle like a duck
12. I can forget details and lose things like a pro!
13. I can use my belly like a table top.


… and to think, I still have five weeks left to perfect it all!


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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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The world is full of funny people today

We were at Best Buy picking up a router so that our laptop could connect to the internet as well as our desk top. Paul asked the sales man if it would take long to set up the router.

The man looked at him and said;

"Well man, it depends how smart you are. I don't want to insult your intelligence and tell you it should take only ten minutes in case it takes you three hours to figure out."

.

.

.

Paul has tomorrow and Friday off work!! I am so excited about that! He's managed to get quite a bit done around here in his after work hours, and now we have two full days to spend together and hopefully finish off the apartment.

I want to post pictures of our new place, but won't until it looks decent! =)

My laugh for the day

Two men came over to set up our own internet connection - up until now we've been using other peoples unlocked wireless.

The two men were hilarious. My two favourite lines from them:

*

"You ain't from around here are you? You don't talk like us."

*

"You've been usin' other peoples internet? Huh.

Women these days.

They've gotten so smart."

Baby

The doctor appointment went well. I got to see the baby and he is in position, all ready to be born! I am really glad that the ultra sounds are not an accurate picture of what the baby will end up looking like... because honestly, he was quite freakish and ugly looking in the ultra sound! Quite a relief he won't be looking like an alien!

I am to go back in one week to talk with the doctor about getting the stitch removed - I can't believe we've gotten so far along!! Wednesday I will be 35 weeks and my stitch comes out sometime in the 36/37 week range.

I have done well in the last four weeks - I have just gained 7 lbs since my last doctor visit!! Hurray! With five weeks left though there is great potential for great weight gain =)

It is rather funny the extremes in comments I get from people regarding how big - or small - I am.

Most women tell me that I am so tiny and I look like I am only half way through the pregnancy.

Nearly all men and a few women tell me that I look ready to pop any day now!! I love how everyone has their own expert opinion. =) It makes me laugh.

March to it Soldier

I am absolutely fascinated with almost all things Army - the formation of soldiers marching around calling out cadence, the IET soldiers at the training defac where we go to eat our meals and the variety of people that make up the US Army - the fat, the skinny, the ugly, the beautiful, the smart and the stupid. Perhaps I am just easily amused, but I could spend hours watching the soldiers. It is such a different life.
I took the above picture this morning on my way to my doctors appointment. I had to sit for a good two minutes while all these soldiers (and more! they wouldn't all fit in the camera lens!) marched across the street, holding up traffic. Two road guards stood in front of the cars and once all the soldiers had marched through they saluted all the cars that had sat waiting.

What's up doc?

Tomorrow is my first doctor’s appointment here. I am excited about that – it has been quite awhile since I have seen anyone! We thought that Paul had the day off tomorrow and that he would be able to be with me… but as it turns out there was a change in plans and he is required to be at work tomorrow morning. They called to let him know at 10:30pm! Poor guy has to shave, shine his boots, shower and be up early for work in the morning! And I need to be up early enough to drive him in so that I can have the car for my appointment!

I think the lesson of the year here is going to be flexibility!!

Thursday Thirteen #9

Thirteen programs I use most on the computer

1. Internet Explorer - for my internet addiction of course =)

2. Microsoft Digital Imaging - I could spend hours and hours with this program- putting peoples heads on animal bodies or taking blemishes out of skin, it's so much fun to play around with!

3. Master Cook 7 - Paul just bought me this and it looks pretty cool. It has tons of recipies on it and I am able to add my own, make menus and make shopping lists from it!

4. Ares - A program to download music to and to organize all my music

5. Scrabble - it has different skill levels, so I can feel stupid or smart =)

6. Sudokou - same with this one!

7. Microsoft Office Word - for all my thoughts, letters, lists, etc.

8. Media Center - To organize pictures, listen to music and watch dvds

9. Windows Dancer - the silliest thing ever created, yet also one of the most entertaining things. When it's turned on a little person will dance in the corner of my screen. I can even download different charecters if I don't like the one that they have automatically loaded.

10. Spider Solitaire - an addictive game.

11. MSN - wonderful for staying in touch with friends!

12. Windows Media Player - another option for music or movies

13. Pinball - another addictive game =)

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Three new sites I am hooked on:

Games-for-less a site with tons of games for pretty decent prices.

Facebook a site to reconnect with old friends. I have found classmates from grade five on there! So fun =)

My Kaboodle a site that will keep track of items you want to buy.

A little glimpse into the mind of pregnant women

A craving isn’t something that can simply be defined, nor can it be easily ignored. A craving may seem random and even disgusting to those around, but to a pregnant woman there is nothing more serious than the one (or two or three) items that she is obsessing about. A craving is, in fact, a complicated series of thoughts. For example:
A pregnant woman can walk into the kitchen with the intention of washing dishes, or putting something away. But then she sees something that triggers a thought. Maybe a coffee mug. Or the salt shaker. Or a block of cheese. The thought that develops – rather quickly – is “What can I do with this? What can I make to eat?” The salt might end up on carrot sticks simply because, when the fridge is opened they are front and center and are just screaming to be eaten with salt. Cheese may end up being eaten with ginger snaps, because, well, who doesn’t eat cheese with ginger snaps??
Buffets are a very dangerous place to take a pregnant woman. There is a huge array of foods, all begging to be combined in combinations that will knock the socks off of your dinner partner. Mac and Cheese with olives. Pizza with sour cream. It’s almost sensory overload! So many options.
Another way a craving is developed is memory. A pregnant woman can be sitting looking at pictures – pictures of people, scenery, etc. Then all of a sudden she will remember the food she was eating while she was at that park, or the food she had for dinner the night that picture was taken two years ago. And trust me. When she remembers a food, she then needs it right away.

My love

Life

Sigh. I feel like we have barely put a dent into the massive amount of unpacking there is to do!! Some of the ladies from the church here have offered to come by and help unpack and arrange things – but I don’t even know where to start, let alone how to give directions to people as to where our things should go!!
Where exactly DO I want to store towels and sheets? How about mugs? Tupperware? Cereal? Sigh. So many decisions to be made!

Friday night we’re having our first company over. Real live company. To this chaotic mess. Sure, it’s just a lonely Army guy, who would I am sure, be happy with anything hot to eat and probably won’t even notice that there are dishes in the bathroom and towels in the hallway. But it’s still company, and I am excited about that.

I have joined the ‘Netflix family.’ In an attempt to help keep me off my feet Paul said he thought it was a good idea for me to join Netflix – an online movie rental that ships dvds directly to your house, and includes a prepaid envelope to return them. You make up a list of dvds that you want, and they’ll send three at a time. As soon as they get one returned, they’ll automatically ship the next one in the list. I think I am going to have a lot of fun with it =)

Thursday Thirteen #8

Paul and I kind of get obsessed with one game and play it over and over and OVER again. We just discovered two new games today, and it got me thinking about some of our other favourites that the two of us play.
Here it is -

Thirteen of our favourite games!


1. Wooly Bully
2. Chess
3. Chicken’s Foot
4. Tunk
5. Poker
6. Pinball
7. Rummikub
8. The ‘dice game’
9. Connect Four
10. Monopoly
11. Pictionary
12. Tri-Bond
13. In a Pickle

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Sunny skies

I am home now. It may not look like home - with packing boxes everywhere and things stacked in piles in every room - but if "home is where the heart is" then I am home, here with my hubby.

It was a long drive down here - Friday evening we stopped at the Stiefler's for our 'Christmas' with them, and to spend the night. We were well fed, even Spencer, a bottemless pit, was stuffed by the end of the evening! Grandpa gave me a rather cool looking drinking jug with four matching glasses that had belonged to his brother. It looks like it's from the 60's. I really like it and am excited to use it.

Saturday night we stopped in Beckley, West Virginia, and Sunday afternoon we arrived at our new apartment. Paul didn't get home from work until 11:00pm!! It seemed like AGES - being SO close to him, and yet him not being able to come home!! But he did finally make it home.

Monday mum, Spen and I got some unpacking/rearranging done, and we picked up some groceries.

Tuesday morning mum and Spen left bright and early.

Paul had been given the day off, but he was SO sick! Poor guy. On his birthday too! Neither of us felt like making anything, so we went to Atlanta Bread House for his birthday meal. =)

Paul did a marvelous job picking out the apartment for us. I love it!! One of the best things about it is that the walls aren't white!! They have been painted a nice beige color, so it feels a little more homey. I like it a lot! It's going to take a while to get everything put away, but it's an activity that I enjoy doing - especially with now being able to decorate the baby's nursery!! Only forty eight more days till the little guy gets here!! YAY!!! =)

For the Birthday Boy

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

It's Paul's 22nd birthday today!! HURRAY!!! He has opened half of his presents now, and will open the rest later today ... he got the day off work so we get to spend the whole day together =)

More about the trip down here and the apartment later. I am going to go enjoy spending time with my man!

Thursday Thirteen #7

In honor of the upcoming road trip, today’s thirteen is THIRTEEN FAVOURITE THINGS ABOUT ROADTRIPS:

1. Anticipating the destination. Especially this trip – where I will be seeing PAUL again!!
2. The bathrooms. Seriously, there are some pretty cool bathrooms at different fast food joints, gas stations and truck stops. Some are pretty nasty, but that’s the price you pay for finding the cool ones. I have seen a velvet wallpapered bathroom, and being so impressed with the woman’s my friend and I snuck into the mans and their urinal was a stone waterfall!! Too cool!
3. The scenery. It never gets boring – and the longer the trip the more variety of scenery you see.
4. Playing games. Who hasn’t played the license plate game on a long road trip? Or counted how many cows you could see in a certain amount of time? Or thrown bouncy balls out the window as you drive down a hill … a car drives faster than bouncy balls can bounce. (Just in case you haven’t tried this activity yourself)
5. Food. It all tastes better when you’re in the car. And different states have different foods. Like the boiled peanuts we found in North Carolina. They tasted gross, but that was my fault for picking a guy who hadn’t made them right.
6. Audio books. When you’re sitting in the car it’s very easy to listen to someone else reading a book. I have made it through many of Mary Higgins Clark's books - and Paul actually likes them too =)
7. Discovering new places. Paul and I found ‘America’s largest McDonalds’ on one of our trips. =) We didn’t bother to stop and eat there though. Just took a picture of it!
8. Listening to music. What’s a road trip without music? Whether you’re the one belting it out and bouncing along, or the one complaining that it’s too loud and you don’t like it… a road trip isn’t complete without music.
9. Gas pumps. If you want to be thoroughly confused try filling up with gas at different gas stations. There seriously must be about half a dozen different pumps all with different operating instructions. After a long time in the car it makes for some comic relief.
10. Road Signs and billboards. There are some very humorous signs if you take the time to read them. There are two signs on I-90 that crack me up. Sign one reads “Do not pick up hitchhikers.” Sign two, about five miles down the road, reads “State penitentiary, next exit.”
11. No strict time schedule. Road trips are much more enjoyable when you have the freedom and flexibility to stop when you want to or when you see something that catches your eye … or when you want to take a ‘scenic’ route, that although very beautiful, adds an extra hour or two to your trip… you can do it! All because you’re not on a tight schedule. We have seen gorgeous places in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Arizona that we wouldn’t have seen had we stuck to a schedule and map.
12. Accents. Or sayings only said in certain areas. Some people are just so funny, and they don’t even know it!
13. Familiar faces. It is amusing to me to see the same people over and over again when you’re driving. Whether you keep passing each other on the highway, or you see each other when you stop at rest stops, it gives me the warm fuzzies to feel like I know someone along the way. =) The record for running into strangers on a road trip was from Florida to Ontario and we saw the same family at different rest stops four times! Needless to say, I was highly amused.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Goodbye stockings.

It is a great tragedy. Grandma Crowe sent home all the grandkids stockings this year. She has always guarded those stockings like family jewels – making sure that she had them all in order, ready to fill for the next year’s family Christmas get together. I always liked what she had in them – handy purse sized Kleenex, hand cream and lip balm. Lots of candy. Socks or mittens. A toy, ornament or jewelry. And of course the apple and orange in the toe.
It’s not that the tragic event is that we’re no longer going to get those stocking stuffers. I can survive without those things. But who wants their grandma to be too old to be able to do things? Especially something that has always been so special to her to be able to do for us. Sigh… grandma is getting older and that is so sad.

Our apartment

I found a layout of our apartment online. The above is the floor plan. Below is my ideas of where furniture can be placed =) I think we're going to be crowded in the second bedroom with a crib, changing table, bookshelf AND a guest bed!
(The green in the bathroom is the bathmat and the toilet seat cover!!)

January 1, 2007

It is the first day of a whole new year. Looking back over the past year it is remarkable to see all the things that have unraveled over the course of time. I am so glad that at the beginning of last year we were oblivious to the many changes that would take place in our lives. I think knowing and anticipating the events would have made us uptight, stressed out, and trying to find a solution to the problems. But instead God unraveled the plans in His timing. He has been faithful and has given us the strength to get through each day. And He has given us so many things to be thankful for over the past year, and things to look forward to in the New Year!!

Looking forward:
*We are both excited that the Army moved Paul to Georgia and that I will soon be down there to live with him. What better way to travel and see different parts of the country than with a job that will move you all around? Perhaps it was untimely, but we were ready for a change and are happy about the warmer weather, the not-too-far beaches, and the visitors we’ll get on their way to and from Florida. =)
*By far the most exciting thing about 2007 is counting down the days till our baby boy arrives!! We are so grateful that the stitch the doctors put in me has done its job so far and that, at 32 weeks, the doctors are no longer concerned about the chance the baby might come early. In fact they don’t think there is much of a risk of that at all, though I am still to continue taking it easy until the little dude makes his appearance.

Who knows what other adventures 2007 holds for us … I would rather not know and just take it a day at a time, knowing that our lives are in the hands of our Creator.

“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out … For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be the glory forever, Amen.” – Romans 11:33&36

The count down at Dave and Gail's

Playing poker and watching the excitement at Nathan Phillip's Square

More Games!

Joy and Jay

The girls ... or some of them. All ready to toast the new year with our 1/2 an inch of sparkly water or whatever it was.

Awww! He was on my mind all night, and called seconds after the big count down.

Me and Amy ... this was us at 4 in the morning

The faithful (foolish!!) group that stayed up till 7 in the morning playing games, talking and eating. Out of a group of 17 only 4 managed to stay up!! The rest left or crashed.

Pictures from Christmas