We're so thankful

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! This year, Melissa and I have many things to be thankful for--most notably, the birth of our son Kyler William (aka Peanut)!

The labor was a long one. Melissa needed to be induced early in the morning on November 17, and we were expecting to see him later that day. But he ended up waiting until the wee hours of the morning on November 18 to make his arrival. He was already a big boy, weighing in at 9 lbs and 23 inches in length, but Melissa did very well during the delivery and got him out in less than an hour once she started pushing. We spent the next couple of days in the hospital, and we were able to come home on November 20.

We're so thankful for all of the visitor's we've had--both friends and family--and we're grateful for all of the meals brought over by my colleagues at Olivet. We've already had a few long nights (though a couple of easy ones too!), many dirty diapers, urination mishaps, and some challenges while nursing, but we could not be happier to have such a healthy and adorable little boy.

 

Peanut Coming Early?

For our first delivery, we figured that Peanut would be showing up AFTER his due date, never thinking that he might be here before! Ryan and I are discovering that if you plan on anything with a baby, things tend to change. Flexibility is the rule!

The due date saga began when I went to the OB on Friday for my 39 week appointment. I had not slept well the night before and was feeling a little nauseated, which led to me being a little dehydrated. When the tech took my blood pressure, it was a little high. By high, I mean 126/78--so not super high for a pregnant lady. The reason they were concerned was that my blood pressure is usually really low (110/68), and when not pregnant, even lower (90/56). Since I have never had high blood pressure, it was the last thing I thought would be my problem. (My OB in Ann Arbor actually suggested that I take Sudafed to increase my blood pressure.) So I was REALLY surprised when my OB told me that she was concerned enough to suggest induction that day (last Friday) or Tuesday (today). I thought that maybe it was just a one time deal and that maybe I was just fighting a little bug, so I asked if I could just come in for an appointment on Tuesday to see how I was doing, as I would really prefer to go into labor on my own!

So Tuesday rolls around, and Ryan and I are prepared for anything, including the hospital bag if we are sent to the labor/delivery unit for induction. They took my blood pressure again and now it was 124/82--not much better, but not much worse either. The OB said that since things were staying the same, it was not an emergency, but that it would not get any better until the baby was born. Since Peanut is already term, there is no reason to wait much longer, especially since the only thing that could happen would be my blood pressure could just get worse. I am disappointed that I will not get to wait and see when my body would decide to deliver Peanut, but the ultimate goal is always a healthy baby. So keep Ryan and I in your prayers as we go to the hospital at 6:30am on Thursday to have this baby!

Guessing Game

So today we are 39 weeks pregnant, and as much as I would love for our son to make his arrival I am trying to not get my hopes up until after our due date. To pass the time we sent out emails and posted for our friends and family to guess when "Peanut" will make his debut.

Here is the chart of what we got...

Guesser	Peanut’s “Name"	Weight	Date of Birth
Dana C.	Joshua (11th most popular)	Not 11 lbs	Friday 11/11
Meghan D.	Bremerton	7 lbs 4 oz	Friday 11/11
Jen T.	Ty’Shawne’E	7 lbs 5 oz	Saturday 11/12
Melissa K.	Isaac Nathaniel	8 lbs 2 oz	Tuesday 11/15
Vergil P.	Hunter	10 lbs	Tuesday 11/15
Laura H.	Abcde	8 lbs 2 oz	Wednesday 11/16
Mandy I.	Remington	7 lbs 6 oz	Thursday 11/17
Becky J.	Caleb Matthew	8 lbs 4 oz	Thursday 11/17
Emily P.		7 lbs 10 oz	Thursday 11/17
Susan D.	Xavier	8 lbs	Saturday 11/19
Cheryl B.		8 lbs 10 oz	Saturday 11/19
Bill B.		9 lbs 5 oz	Saturday 11/19
Laura B.	Rex	7 lbs 4 oz	Sunday 11/20
Britani S.	Gabriel (Gabe)	8 lbs 6 oz	Sunday 11/20
Kellie S.	Jacob Ryan	8 lbs 1 oz	Sunday 11/20
Lois B.	Luke William	7 lbs 10 oz	Sunday 11/20
Nicole S.	Ezekiel Matthew	8 lbs 8 oz	Sunday 11/20
Kim C.	? Matthew or William	8 lbs 1 oz	Sunday 11/20
Jen K.	Jacob	8 lbs	Sunday 11/20
Jan W.	Justin Bebej (Bieber)	8 lbs 2 oz	Monday 11/21
Julie M.		8 lbs 4 oz	Monday 11/21
Carol Y.	Dede Cece	8 lbs 2 oz	Monday 11/21
Matt J.	William (Liam) Ryan	7 lbs 12 oz	Tuesday 11/22
Jess M.	Matthew William	8 lbs 10 oz	Tuesday 11/22
Matt and Courtney R.	Clark Kent	8 lbs 13 oz	Tuesday 11/22
Ginger E.	Xavier (Zechariah) Matthew	8 lbs 2 oz	Tuesday 11/22
Dawn O.		8 lbs 3 oz	Wednesday 11/23
Sarah S.	Corbin Matthew	8 lbs 4 oz	Wednesday 11/23
Matt W.	Cedric William-Pujols	7 lbs 12 oz	Wednesday 11/23
Emily S.	John Jacob Jingleheimer	7 lbs 8 oz	Thursday 11/24
Chrissy P.	Tyler Rex (T-Rex)	7 lbs 15 oz	Friday 11/25
Andrew S.	Ian William	9 lbs 6 oz	Saturday 11/26
Karyn H.	Levi William	8 lbs 8 oz	Sunday 11/27
Dave K.	David Eric	68 lbs	Wednesday 2/29
Dawn B.	Matthew William
Scott S.		8 lbs 4 oz
Phil K.	Tony Albert

We will keep you all posted...could be any day! Oh and P.S. no one guessed the name, not even close =)

Peanut's room

One of the perks of having fall break is that it gave me the time work on my "Honey Do" list around the house. Some of these things were random things that needed to be done, but several of them revolved around Peanut's impending arrival. Today we finished decorating Peanut's nursery, and we wanted to share it with you.

As Melissa and I look around this colorful room, we become overwhelmed by the immense generosity of our family and friends. We couldn't have done much of this without you! Peanut isn't even here yet, and we can already feel all of the love you have for him. Thank you all so much!

To the eighth month -- AND BEYOND!

Sorry for the lack of September updates. Life here has been very busy! Ryan is immersed in his first semester teaching at Olivet Nazarene University, and he has had very little time to do much online social networking or blogging. Melissa has been keeping herself busy too. She even spent a week up in Michigan in anticipation of her cousin Sarah's wedding, which included making the wedding cake for the now newlyweds' big day:

But throughout all of this, Peanut has been continuing to grow! The last two check-ups with our new doctors here have gone splendidly. Melissa is measuring right where she should be, and Peanut's heartbeat is always very strong. Here's Melissa at 32 weeks:

This past weekend we were blessed by the Bebej side of the family with a huge co-ed baby shower/get-together. It was a really great day--Aunt Dawn and Grandma Linda sure know how to throw a party! And the generosity of our family and friends was SO overwhelming--we are very thankful! This kid is going to be so well-dressed!

Melissa's mom and dad were also able to come down for the party. But we put them to work during their visit too. They've pretty much become our own personal paint crew. Any time we plan on painting a room where we live, they come on over with their rollers, brushes, and drop cloths in tow. This time we painted the nursery. While the nursery is not 100% ready for Peanut's arrival, it's really starting to come together. Here are a couple of shots of the nursery now that the walls are painted. Even without the bedding set up yet, the Mesozoic theme is already obvious (please note the awesomeness of the lamp on the dresser, which ultimately won Ryan over in choosing these Jurassic and Cretaceous reptiles over a mammal-themed nursery):

We'll try and be better about posting in the coming weeks!

Long time, no bump

I know that Melissa and I have been slacking off on this blog since we moved, but we've been pretty busy. So busy, in fact, that we haven't taken a picture of Melissa's bump in over six weeks! Here is what she and Peanut currently look like:

 Melissa and Peanut at 28 weeks

In other pregnancy-related news, I am happy to report that Melissa successfully passed her 3-hour glucose test! I wish that she hadn't had to take this awful test in the first place, but at least now we know that her blood-sugar levels are normal. Let's celebrate with cupcakes or fro-yo or some other sweet delicacy!

My new pet names?

So I am almost 24 weeks (Friday) and I am feeling--shall we say--much larger? Due to this change in my body, Ryan and I have had some pretty funny conversations.

One day I was doing something that Ryan was worried about, so he made the comment that I was carrying precious cargo...
Me: "So you're just worried about my cargo, huh?"
Ryan: "No, it's like you're the Ark of the Covenant--important on the outside AND carrying precious cargo."
Me: "Um...thanks, honey." =)

Another day I was saying how I feel much larger...
Me: "I feel like a whale!"
Ryan: "I think you underestimate how much I like cetaceans."
For those who do not know, cetaceans are whales, and my husband did his Ph.D. dissertation on the movement of ancient whales.

6 Year Anniversary

On July 16, 2005, I got to marry my best friend. To celebrate our 6th anniversary this year, we went out to dinner at a local restaurant called Pacific Rim. The food was excellent and the restaurant was so beautiful with all its wooden decor. We started out with pork confit mu shu tacos (tender slow-cooked pork confit with a shiitake-jicama slaw and scallion mu shu pancakes), followed by soup (Ryan got the coconut curry soup, and I got the special chilled avocado with crab soup). We then had a nice spring salad while I sipped the house lemonade and Ryan drank his Coke.

For the main course, Ryan got a pan-roasted pork loin chop: Black Oak Farm pork loin chops crusted with panko and togarashi, with shallot soy-mustard sauce, lentils, and grilled zucchini, eggplant, and asparagus. I was limited in what I could eat due to the fact that so many of the dishes contained raw ingredients, but I was really satisfied with my grilled lemongrass chicken: lemongrass-marinated Miller Ranch all-natural chicken breast with rice, grilled vegetables, a chili-lime dressing, and scallion oil. After dinner we walked around downtown Ann Arbor and visited a few favorite shops, such as Vault of Midnight, and The Cupcake Station for dessert.

Then we went home for the rest of the evening. Ryan and I have the tradition of watching our wedding video, slideshow, and reception video on our anniversary each year, which always makes us smile at the people who are in our lives and realize how much has changed since we got married. We also wrote in our anniversary journal (another tradition), in which we write down the highlights and lowlights of that year of marriage while reading back over (and sometimes laughing at) what we wrote in prior years. So much has changed in six years, but one thing that has not is how much we love and adore being together.

Speaking of change, my baby belly has gotten bigger in recent weeks. Ryan even felt Peanut kick for the first time last night! Here I am on our anniversary at 22 weeks:

And here I am snuggling with our furry baby Duncan after we got back from dinner on our anniversary:

"Showered" by Wonderful Friends

It has been a busy couple of weeks, and a lot has happened. I am now "unemployed" since I really am not a stay at home mom yet...well unless you count Duncan and unborn Peanut. Our apartment is almost unrecognizable after all the boxes have taken over, but that will be a post all on its own, I promise. During these busy weeks, I had wonderful friends and co-workers throw me baby showers.

Kellie and Laura worked hard to give me a really adorable baby shower on July 9th at our church. It was great to see so many friends there and to receive love sent from others who could not be there. My parents were able to come up for the weekend and even catch a softball game before the shower on Saturday morning.

After a fun game, I received some super cute Kellie-made bibs and burp cloths...
U of M of course!

Super soft blanket with puppies from Lynsey and Lori

I continued to receive more of our cloth diapers!

The super cute diaper cake with more burp clothes and onsies with cute little tub toys (the whale on top was a Ryan favorite)! We will definitely enjoy the disposable diapers the first month when Peanut arrives.

The great group of friends and family who came (and the love that came with them from those who could not attend)

A week later, I ended my 2 1/2 years working for the U of M Anesthesiology Department. I will greatly miss all the people I worked with and was overwhelmed by their love and generosity on my last day. They threw me a "going-away baby shower" on my last day. I have never been sadder to leave a job. I will greatly miss all the wonderful people I worked with and hope to stay in contact with them all! (I didn't bring my camera so I missed out on pictures for this one... Sorry!)

It's official! We're having a...

Today Melissa and I went in for our 20-week ultrasound. We've been so excited for this ultrasound because we've been anxious to find out--as my sister-in-law Lynsey put it--what variety of Peanut Melissa has been growing. The ultrasound technician began at the head and worked her way down the body. This was a little bit frustrating because we were anxious to see the other end, but we saw all sorts of cool things along the way! First we got some great profile shots and saw both the nose and mouth. We got a fantastic view of the heart, seeing all four chambers pumping away, and even getting a glimpse of the tricuspid and mitral valves in action. The heart beat was so strong that the tech actually had to turn down the volume! We got some cool views of the spine as well (what can I say--my attention is instantly drawn to serially homologous structures).

Peanut's Hitchcockian profile

Eventually, we got down to Peanut's--ahem--business end. At first, we weren't quite sure what we were looking at, but once a certain little something showed up on the screen, we didn't need too much help with interpretation. The tech simply labeled the photo as follows:

If you would like a little help with what view this is, here's a labeled version. It's basically like Peanut is sitting on the ultrasound transducer.

Lastly, we got a peek at Peanut's legs and feet. Here you can see a little foot right in the middle (toes pointed to the left).

Overall, the technician said everything looked fantastic. She kept repeating how cooperative Peanut was being, giving her great angles/views of everything she was looking for. We are so happy that the pregnancy is progressing nicely, and we can't wait to meet our little boy! His due date was originally estimated as November 18, but today his measurements suggested a due date of November 20 (which happens to be the birthday of my sister Britani and my sister-in-law Kim). I'm personally hoping he holds out until November 21 (which is my birthday), but no matter what day he decides to enter this world, I can't wait to hold him--I wouldn't even mind if greeted me by peeing on my chest, just like I did to my dad.

A 19-week bump-date

Here's Melissa at just past 19 weeks. We find out whether we're having a boy or girl on Wednesday! Can't wait!

 I bet Duncan is thinking, "What in the world is going on in there?"

Yes we'll be using cloth diapers, and no we're not crazy

When most people think of cloth diapers, they usually think about pins, plastic covers, and large rectangles to fold. Things have changed in the last couple years, and being in Ann Arbor, we have been exposed to numerous options that we probably would not have been introduced to otherwise. We have now had many friends already try cloth diapers with their kids, and after hearing about their experiences, Ryan and I have decided to use cloth diapers for a number of reasons. First, we've been trying to live "greener" in our day-to-day lives, and we feel like using cloth rather than disposable diapers is another way for us to do that. Secondly, when you buy cloth diapers, the estimated savings over disposable diapers for one year is usually over $1,000. So when you have multiple kids and numerous years using cloth, the savings can be fantastic. The new cloth diapers usually adjust sizes as your child grows so that the same ones can be used for years. This really makes the initial investment worth it. Also, cloth diapers often encourage kids to potty train earlier, or so we have been told, and the colors and patterns are often very cute and just plain fun!

The cloth diapers that we are going to be using are the BumGenius 4.0 diapers. They come with both Velcro and snap closures (snap for when Peanut gets older and tries to remove said diaper). We also enjoy being able to support a local business here in Ann Arbor (The Little Seedling; you can see our registry here), though they can also be found at a store owned by my Aunt Sharon's boss in Holland, MI (Tip Toes).

Following the advice of friends, however, we will be using disposable diapers for the first month or so for several reasons. Peanut will still be too small for the "Bums" initially (unless he/she is as big as Ryan was when he was born--I hope not). We will also be going through so many diapers at first. Plus, we want to be able to easily fold the top of the diaper over for the umbilical cord to heal. Lastly, the first poops (comprised of meconium) are often really sticky and wouldn't be too kind to the cloth. But even during this time, we are still going to try and use more of the "green" diaper products, like those made by 7th Generation.

A bump update and Duncan's brush with nature

Melissa is now just over 18 weeks pregnant, but we realized that we never posted any of the bump pictures we took of her last weekend. So here you go!

Melissa at 17 weeks pregnant

On a completely unrelated note, Duncan had a bit of a brush with nature last night. As has been the norm lately, Melissa went to bed early, leaving Duncan and I alone in the living room, where we were watching highlights of the day's baseball games. All of sudden, we heard a little something on the 10-inch ledge outside of our 2nd-story slider. Duncan hopped off the couch, poked his head through the vertical blinds, and starting barking like crazy. I jumped up to quiet him down, but when I pulled open the blinds, I didn't see anything at first (it was pretty dark, after all). So I grabbed my Maglite, shined it outside, and what did I see? Well, this:

I felt bad for our little Procyon lotor friend, as he looked young and pretty scared. But in order to hush Duncan up (thereby preventing him from waking up Melissa and all of our neighbors), I shooed the little guy off the ledge. Sure enough, however, he came right back within the next five minutes, prompting another round of barking by our little watchdog. Eventually, I went to bed, hoping Duncan would just forget that the raccoon was out there. But, of course, he couldn't! I eventually had to close all of bedroom doors to prevent Duncan from going out to the living room to see if his distant carnivore relative was still there. Again, I couldn't help but feel bad for the terrified little 'coon on our ledge. Look at how cute he was!

Summer Reading

Work lately has been so busy that I have been finding myself really starting to look forward to a little down time before "Peanut" arrives. If you don't already know, I love to read and always have. One genre I love to read is Young Adult fiction. Often they have amazing stories, drama, and romance without all the raunchy material found in adult books. Over the past years I have really enjoyed all the Harry Potter books (we'll be seeing the final midnight showing with friends on July 14!),

the Golden Compass Series,

the Twilight series,

the Percy Jackson series (and other of Rick Riordan books),

the Abarat series,

 and, my favorite lately, the Hunger Games Trilogy

So this summer I was not really focused on any specific new series until I finished reading a recent issue of Entertainment Weekly, which had a list of the "Hot" new YA fiction that will be coming out. So what did I do? I went on the Ann Arbor District Library website and requested all of the books that were recommended! So now I have a large stack of books that I need to read in the next 6 weeks before I move to Bourbonnais. One book that I had already heard and read about was "Matched," which I highly enjoyed

Now I am looking forward to the second book "Crossed," coming out in September

I love recommendations, and maybe I will even try to read "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" again after struggling through the first 100 pages.