Christmas 2009

So now that the Thanksgiving post is done I'll move on to Christmas. Maybe I'll actually catch up with this thing at some point. Christmas was celebrated a week early with my family. All of my brothers and sister were in town with their families. Kashelle and Kailey finally were able to meet Lorelei. Kailey was jealous that Gabriel had met her before she did, but she was still happy to see her. I think she was even more happy to spend time with Gabriel. Their favorite game whenever we were there was "GET ROB." They loved attacking him and playing Hide and Seek with him too. Another hit was Jason's Rock Band. He got Beatles Rock Band as a Christmas present and we stayed up late (for me) playing that. The kids had a lot of fun and received a lot of presents. Even Lorelei got a lot of stuff from everyone. She loves all the toys she got and we love the clothes and wipes. Alane and Chris came for only one day and Alane loved holding Lorelei, but every time she would hold her she would cry, so the week I had off my mom and I took Lorelei to Columbia to visit Aunt Alane and Uncle Chris. It was good to spend time with family and we are planning to go up to visit Kashelle, Stephen, and Kailey in the spring.
For actual Christmas day, we stayed home. Rob and I exchanged gifts that morning and opened a couple of things for Lorelei. My parents and grandma came out and we had steak for dinner. It was delicious. It always is when Rob makes it. The rest of the afternoon we relaxed and enjoyed the day.

Thanksgiving 2009 and Shots

It has been awhile since I have updated, so I'm going to begin with Thanksgiving. Grandma Sandy and Grandpa John Eynon came into town from Michigan. They were going to head to Charleston when they came down first, but we were going to have Lorelei's blessing, so they visited us in Florence. We went to dinner and enjoyed spending time together. They love their granddaughter and can't wait to see her again. Rob gave Lorelei her blessing. In it she was blessed with good health, a sweet spirit, the ability to know good from evil and that she would share the gospel with others. Grandma Terry bought Lorelei her blessing dress and Great-Grandma Juanita bought her a white blanket.
That week we went to Charleston for Thanksgiving with the Eynons. We enjoyed visiting with all of them. We played scrabble with Rob's dad and Sandy and his sister and her husband. On Thanksgiving day we got together with all the cousins and had a feast. Lorelei was loved on, especially by her second cousin Haley. While we were in Charleston Grandma Sandy made her some awesome hats and that we still have her wearing.
Lorelei actually had her first shots before Thanksgiving. Her daddy took her in for them and swore he wasn't going again because it broke his heart to have her cry. He did take a picture of her with her band-aids, so she did survive. She was a little down that night but the next day she was back to herself. During this time she also found her hands and started chewing on them. She began smiling really well too. Lorelei really loves having her clothes off and if all else fails when she is crying that is exactly what we do and she usually calms right down.

Lorelei - 2 Months Old

I can't believe Lorelei is already two months old. She is growing like a weed. She has begun to look at her hands in the last week. When she is in a good mood she will lie on her play mat and swing her arms. When she hits any of her toys that make noise she gets so excited and flails her arms and legs even more and makes all sorts of happy noises. During the last month, she celebrated her first Halloween. We dressed her up and a frog and I went as the princess. Rob went as a hippie and won tackiest costume while Lorelei got a prize for being one of the cutest kids. Lorelei's favorite place is her changing table. She absolutely loves lying on it. She coos and moves her arms and legs. We also put her in a swing, but she does not always enjoy being in it. Lorelei will also hold one of her rattles and I watch her the whole time she has it because she throws her arms all over the place and I feel like she will hit herself in the head. She likes to grab other things as well such as my hair and people's shirts. We have begun reading to her and she loves when I read Dr. Suess's Green Eggs and Ham. She even looks at the pictures on each page. Her neck is getting stronger and one of these days she'll begin to hold her head up, but she is not quite capable of keeping it up on her own. She has begun to like her baths too. She especially likes coming out and being wrapped up in her towels.

I enjoy dressing Lorelei up. Here are a few pictures of her before/after church. I'm not sure she liked the bonnet, but it came with the outfit, so I put it on for a few pictures.

Rob and I love our little girl even when she is being a fuss bucket. She wears Rob out some days. He doesn't stay up as late as he used to and he does not have time for naps. She likes to sleep in the mornings and usually stays awake most of the afternoon while he is home. She is also spoiled rotten so that if she isn't dead asleep if we try to put her down her little eyes pop wide open and she won't go back to sleep unless someone is holding her. We have a carrier that we use to walk her in and that helps put her to sleep too. She loves being walked around. Rob or I will walk her down to Aunt Susie and Uncle Bobby's and she falls asleep most of the time before we make it there. Rob will also walk her around in the field outside. Lorelei is also a good shopper. My mom and I have taken her with us several times and she either sleeps or looks around in awe. Lorelei has been a great blessing in our lives and we are grateful for her everyday.

Lorelei - 1 Month Old

Lorelei is now a month old. She is growing so fast. When we first brought her home she had no fat on her and now she is pudgy everywhere. She is probably about 7 lbs now. She outgrew her preemie clothes after two weeks, but the newborn clothes were still big. Actually some of them are still big for her, but others fit fine. She likes to look and people and my mom thinks she talks to her, but I think she is only hearing herself because as much as she talks to Lorelei, the baby wouldn't have time to get a word in. We have heard her coo, but whether that is just noise or actual delight I don't know. Lorelei does not like bath time at all. She screams her little head off no matter who gives her the bath. I think it is because she gets cold and we just haven't mastered it yet.

My brother, his wife, and son came and brought her this butterfly toy for her car seat. It makes noise and crinkles. She enjoys the noise it makes and will follow it with her eyes now. They also gave her this book for pictures, but where the pictures go are black and white designs that in the last week she has begun to stare at. They gave her a rubber duck too that my nephew tried to get her to play with. While he was here he also asked if she could walk and talk.

She also likes to look at people. Rob says she sometimes only wants to be with me because she'll cry with him and then he gives her to me and she stops immediately. She will sleep in her bassinet, but sometimes she has to sleep with someone holding her or next to me or Rob. She has had gas several times over the last week and does not like to be put in her bassinet then. I'm amazed that she has slept 5-7 hours some nights in the last week or two. I didn't expect that for another month or two. She likes the car and sleeps every time we go anywhere. During the day she eats 2-3 ounces about every three hours. One day while I was changing her, she had not finished pooping and when it came out, it shot 2-3 feet across the room. Another day while lying next to Rob on the couch, she managed to pee on the couch and on Rob without getting herself wet at all. Lorelei loves to stretch and she always keeps her hands next to her head. She's like her dad because she sticks out her tongue a lot. I love to watch her sleep because her face shows the whole spectrum of emotions from sadness to happiness. She even gets the wrinkled forehead that makes her look angry and she has a pouty face that is adorable. Rob and I love her so much and are glad to have her in our lives even if we are cranky when she wakes us up after we have only been a sleep a couple of hours.

It's a Girl!

Lorelei Joan Eynon was born September 14, 2009 at 5:40 pm. She weighed in at 4 lbs. 13 oz and was 19 in. long. I went in for an ultrasound because on a previous visit my doctor believed she was breech. We did find out she was breech, but we also found out I had very little amniotic fluid; therefore, we had to be admitted for a C-section. I never noticed my water break, so I am glad that everything was okay. We waited monitoring her heartbeat all day because they don't like to do an epidural/spinal until 8 hours after a person has eaten. Fortunately I had only eaten breakfast and skipped my mid-morning snack due to my doctor's appointment. We had a few scary moments when her heartbeat dropped a couple of times, so the nurses moved me so they could monitor me a little closer because if it continued to drop I would be taken immediately for the c-section, but everything went fine so I waited my turn. I was scared to death of having a c-section but I knew it was the only way to ensure the safety of the baby, which at that point was my only concern. Nothing in the birth went as I thought it would. I had planned on not having an epidural and having my baby naturally, but I believe the Lord knew what was best for me and everything turned out much better than I expected it to. We were able to have Lorelei in the room with us for a couple of days when we found out she was unable to hold her temperature where it should be. We spoke with a neonatal doctor (Dr. Bridges) who told us this was most likely because she had no brown fat, but because of the situation he ran a thyroid test and did a CT scan and both came back good. In order to regulate her temperature, they put her in an incubator and started the temperature around 32-33 degrees C. As she maintained her temperature the nurses moved the temperature on her bed back 0.3-0.5 degrees. During this time, Rob and I could only hold her for 30 minutes a day and then she had to be back in the box. Sunday night she was able to be put in a regular bed and if she holds her temperature for 48 hours we will be able to bring her home tomorrow (Wed.) morning. I know other mothers have to keep their babies in the hospital for much longer than we have and I am fortunate to have been able to hold her at all. I still wish my baby had been able to come home with us the day I had to come. I can say that has been one of the most difficult days I have ever had, but I am grateful that she is keeping her temp and we will have her home soon. I am recovering well from the surgery and probably doing more than I should. We are grateful for our little girl Lorelei and love her very much. She is a blessing in our lives and we look forward to growing with her.

Lorelei with her dad and mom.

Grandma and her new granddaughter.

Nursery is done!

I was worried that the room was not going to be finished because the wall was looking like this picture about two weeks ago and we did not have a floor in the room either. I had already begun painting, so I was not too worried about that part being done. We decided on yellow paint since we do not know the baby's gender. Rob may have rather had orange, but we both think the yellow turned out well.

Now we have everything in place. The crib with the jungle quilt, sheets and bumper pads, the changing table and a dresser full of clothes (as well as some in the closet). We would have preferred a farm themed nursery, but the crib set for that was more expensive and online only, so we settled for the jungle stuff, which is cute too. I bought the curtain from Wal-Mart and the color matches the jungle crib set better than I thought it would. My mom helped me pick it out and she had never even seen the crib bedding.

And all of this happened in my 38th week. At my doctor's appointment this week I found out the baby is not in the head down position, which is disappointing, but it does still have time to flip. Monday we have an ultrasound to determine the baby's exact position as well as approximate way. I have my fingers crossed that everything is going to be okay and that the baby will flip. Not much longer now and we will have a little Lorelei or Thomas in our arms. We are excited and nervous, but we are as ready as we can be.

New Camera and Bathroom

I decided to buy a new camera since we have a baby coming soon. Our old camera was unreliable and the screen on it was broken (thanks to me); however it was less than $50. I bought a Nikon Coolpix and so far we like it. It was hard spending the money, but I want to have a camera available when I go to the hospital and not have to worry about batteries or the pictures not taking. We also spent money on fixing up our second bathroom. Rob's cousin came down and tiled the shower for us and is going to come back and finish within the next month. This is how the shower looks after the work he has done so far.


We should have taken before pictures, but we didn't get the camera until after.
Rob was enjoying taking pictures this morning before church of my belly at 35 weeks. I feel huge, but some people say I don't look too big. It just depends on what I wear. My brother Chris came into town and he hasn't seen me since I was barely showing, so he thought I had gotten big. I can't believe I have only five weeks until my due date. My dad and Rob are hoping I have a girl, but we'll see soon enough.
The middle picture is one I took of Rob doing what he does best - sticking out his tongue