Finally, we can go outside...

We took advantage of the first real spring-like day of spring to spend some time outside. I think both of us were going a little stir-crazy after yesterday's rainy day.



A walk, however did the trick, he was cozy in no time.



although he did seem a bit concerned about his travel partner...

Happy Anniversary to us!

Today is our 2nd wedding anniversary! No big night out or elaborate plans this year.

We are celebrating our anniversary tonight with a free appetizer and yummy beer at "old trusty" (our favorite local restauruant, aka, the drafting room) and we will probably spend the entire time talking about how the best anniversary gift ever is waiting for us at home:

2 weeks old aready!

It is so hard to believe that Z is 2 weeks old already! He's doing great and has gained his birthweight back and then some (he was 7 pounds, 11 ounces as on Monday). M is back to work and Z and I have spent the week with lots of visitors and he has gone on many walks and even made his first trip to the mall with Mom and Auntie Rose (he slept through the whole thing giving mom plenty of time to peruse the Clinique counter and the wall of Vera to find the perfect diaper bag wallet).

Some of Z's funny faces. We could stare at these faces 24 hours a day!




He had his first "real" bath last night. He wasn't a fan. Maybe he'll like it better when he doesn't have to get naked in the kitchen.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We're all a little bit Irish today. In Zane's case, it is a VERY little bit, but hey, that's enough to show some Irish spirit!

Thanks to Grammy's friend pat from Ohio for the beautiful Irish bib:


And Grammy for this cool onsie (that he managed to wear for about 15 minutes before needing a change of clothes - the boy is a fashion hound for sure!):


And finally, thanks to Auntie Rose for the adorable Pooh Bear bib. Clearly Z is a bit embarrased to be sporting cartoon charaters. He's too cool for that.

Zane's first week. A post in pictures

What a busy first week it has been.

Zane has made himself at home in his current sleeping spot - the "newborn napper" insert in his pack and play in mom and dad's room.



He's also enjoyed time with dad and his kitty, Wendy. She's not so sure what to think of him yet, but I bet they will be taking lots of naps together very soon.



He's spent some time chilling in his super cozy swing.



He even went on his first walk around the neighborhood.




I'd say it's been a good week!

Welcome to the world baby Zane!!

Zane Adam is here!! He was born at 11:34 am on Wednesday, March 4th. He was 7 pounds, 5 ounces at birth and was 20 inches long. He arrived much faster than anyone (especially his mother and her doctors) imagined since he needed a little bit of an incentive.



I was overdue by a week and my docs were ready to bring this kid into the world. So, on Tuesday night I went into the hospital to be induced. We got there at 8:30, got checked in and into my bed and hooked up to the monitors. Baby was looking good and I was having some regular contractions (about 10 -12 minutes apart) but not really feeling them (at least I didn't think so, I was pretty nervous at this point and chalking most stuff up to a nervous stomach). They gave me the cervadil as I was still not dilated at all and the doc also gave me an ambien so that I could get some rest. She didn't really expect the drugs to do much else than help me to dilate and didn't expect any action of any sort. M was even planning to go home and get some sleep, pack his bag, etc. etc while I happily dozed away.

Yeah right. Contractions started getting more intense and more painful as the night went on. Luckily I don't remember too much except for the fact that every few minutes I was dealing with the most intense pain and then I would pretty much pass out in between each one, only to be rudely awakened by another one. M's trip home was shortened to a shower and bag-pack and although he of course wanted to help me, I think I needed to "do it on my own" and even shushed him at one point! (I had to verify this with him later - "um, did I really shush you?") Seriously, trying to help a woman in labor breathe is a pretty pointless effort I think.

Somewhere around 5-6 am the nurse came in and was pretty surprised by the intensity of my contractions. She checked me and lo and behold...6 cm dilated. I very distinctly remember my first words at hearing that were "DOES THIS MEAN I CAN HAVE DRUGS?!?!?". Oh, yes, wonderfully it did mean that I could have drugs. At some point my doctor came back and checked me and she was totally shocked at my progress. In fact, I think she pretty much said that she had little faith in the cervadil (then why use it? I have no idea) and had pretty much never seen it work that way before.

So in the next 3 hours my wonderful friend the epidural kicked in, they gave me a little bit of pitocin to help the baby along (as he was still pretty high up), they broke my water completey (it was leaking, but not broken), and by around 9 am I was ready to push!!

The pushing part took about 2.5 hours. I remember this time as a calm, tiring, exciting, exhausting, happy, and surreal time. I could feel the contractions and knew when to push, but besides being tired I was in no pain and was pretty relaxed. So was M and in fact the nurse pointed out that we were going to be great parents since we were so calm about everything. Seriously, drugs are good. At some point the doctor came back in and said "this baby will be here before noon". I was shocked to hear her say that, but it must have been all the incentive I needed. First his head was out and surprising, M even looked! At 11:34 he was lying on my chest (sort of, his umbilical cord was so short he could barely reach, so he was mostly lying on my belly). M cut the cord and our gorgeous sweet baby boy was here!! We had a weight guessing game and the nursing student who was in observing (who my mom pointed out looked exactly like my friend Jenn) was spot on at 7lbs5oz. The doctor guessed the largest and she was off by a full pound!