Merry Christmas

We took pictures with "Ski" Santa this past Saturday at Copper Mountain, Colorado. What you can't see in the picture is that Santa is also wearing ski boots as he had just come off from a few runs on the mountain.

The mountain was pretty deserted last week so we did not have to play the line ride game on the lifts. Snow was decently plentiful and we skiied thru some almost white-out conditions on Thursday. The wind was blowing the snow so hard at times that I swore that it felt worse than a microderm.

And, no, Connor is not exactly happy in these photos. He already had a fever and was working on getting pretty sick. We arrived home Monday morning at 6:30 am and we were in the pediatrician's office at 8:30 that same morning.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

Michele, Paul & Connor

My Little Snow Bunny

We are on our annual trek to Colorado for a week of skiing. For those that do not know, yes I did ski last year while pregnant so this is really Connor's second trip.

We took two days to drive to Dillon from Austin. We normally do it in a one day 16 hour drive fest but broke it up this year not knowing how munchkin would take being in the car for so long. He was a trooper and did not protest too much during the trip.

Below are a few pictures we took this morning of Connor in the snow. I am also throwing in some of the pictures we took at Thanksgiving.

Connor is crawling now, has been for over a month. He has also cut his first two teeth - they came in at the same time and is now working on what may be 4 more (2 on the top and 2 more on the bottom).

GO COWBOYS!!!!

I saw this and couldn't resist. Yes, I am starting him young!

Connor @ Four Months

Well, we have survived to four months. Connor is growing like crazy and is becoming more and more interactive on a daily basis. His four month checkup last week went really well. He weighed 19 lbs 13 ozs and was just over 26 inches long. Yes, we have a linebacker in the making right now.

He as accomplished a few new things in the past week. He is now rolling over but doing it in the opposite order of most babies. I'm sure my Mom is making some sort of comment about he is just like me in making things more complicated or doing it my own way. I love you too Mom.




He has also started figuring out how to hold his bottle. So what do I do, I start using a bigger bottle. Back to square one.

I'm on the countdown for returning to work on August 25th and Grandpa Ben is on the countdown to retirement on August 31st. The Austin American Statesman did a nice article on Ben. Connor was a little upset that he wasn't mentioned but we did actually go buy a paper to put a copy of the article in Connor's baby book. http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/technology/08/11/0811plugged.html

Big Baby!!

Connor with his Grandpa Ben last week. He looks much older than his 3.5 months.

Catching Up

Me, my Mom, Connor (3 months) and my 91 year old maternal Grandmother. Grandma is actually smiling which is somewhat of a miracle to get her to do for a picture.




















Connor and the dogs. Maya looks a little dismayed with the whole process.

I know, I know… I haven’t posted an update in ages. Needless to say, I have been enjoying mommyhood. Connor is constantly changing and discovering new things. It is so much fun to watch.

Connor turned 3 months old on July 5th. I weighed him a few days prior and he was tipping the scales at 17.4 lbs. Since he was on track developmentally at his 2 month well baby check, the pediatrician said we did not need to come back until he was 4 months old.

His new thing is working on rolling over. He can get from his back to his side but that is as far as he has gotten so far. I suspect he will make it all the way over in the next few days. He has also discovered his fist and seems to think it tastes better than his pacifier. He can usually get 3 fingers in his mouth at one time but can’t seem to get the rest of them in. You can watch him stare at his fist and then just try to stuff it in his mouth. It is quite amazing.

We have been doing post-natal (Baby) yoga at least once a week. He actually fell asleep towards the end of class last week so I got to get in some extra “relaxation” time while he snoozed. Yoga gives us some great activity bonding time and Connor seems to really enjoy it.

Ah, the dogs… Well, they seem to be taking this all in stride. They only give me funny looks when I let Connor fuss a little too long for their tastes and they will come to whatever room I am in and stare at me like, “Aren’t you going to do something about that noise?” Maya likes to lick all over him but really seems to like his feet best.

Finding day care has been a fun experience (NOT!) I don’t go back to work until the end of August but did not start looking until recently. Apparently, I should have started looking before Connor was even conceived. However, I have found one that is on the way to the office that I think will work for us.

Baby Day

Last Friday, Connor attended the last Baby Day of his grandfather's tour as Dean. Below are some of the photos from the event. And, yes, Grandpa Ben was the one who held Connor the most.

One Month Update

So, the little one is now a month old. Time flies when you have no ability whatsoever to keep track. Yes, I am getting some sleep but some nights are definitely better than others. He is now making lots of new noises, some more interesting than others, and he is more observant of the world around him.

Connor's one month appt went quite well. The pediatrician was pleased with his growth and development. Considering he weighed in at 11 lbs 14 ozs, I would say that he is definitely getting enough to eat. Worst part of the appointment was his getting a vaccination. It took a second to register with him that something was going on and by that time the needle was already out of his leg.

However, I can say that I learned my lesson about not having Infant Tylenol on hand as we definitely did not have a good rest of the day and evening after that appointment.

Dinner Party Pictures

Connor with his grandparents and Paul and I during the cocktail reception.

Connor being held by his dad with the portrait of his grandfather in the background.

Connor's Big Night Out

Connor has already attended his first official dinner party at 13 days old. Last Thursday, Paul's mom calls asking if either Paul or I were available to attend a dinner party honoring Ben (Paul's dad) the following evening. After some discussion, we decided that all three of us would attend provided there were seats available for us all. There were, so we were set.

Arrive at the event at 6:30, a little earlier than we had promised and get ushered into the reception line to shake hands with the Dean and his wife (Paul's parents). We all had nametags, including Connor. Ben notices that we are in line and we get pulled up to the front to take pictures. Connor was in the center, being held by his grandfather. Once I get the picture from the College of Engineering, I will post it up here.

Paul and I head into the cocktail reception and go straight for the bar. This was one of my first chances to enjoy a glass of wine in quite a long time and I was taking it. We get our wine and are talking to a couple of people around us who are fascinated with Connor. Next thing I know, Ben is approaching us and saying that he needed to "borrow" Connor for a few minutes. I take a peek back at the reception line and Ben is introducing everyone that is coming through the line to his new grandson. Connor was getting all the attention instead of the soon-to-be retired Ben.

Connor was an absolute angel through the dinner and ensuing program. I did have to take him out of the room for a few minutes during the dinner to feed him but once I got him settled back down, we were back in the room for the remainder of the party. He made it in the video that reviewed Ben's years as Dean and even got a few mentions during speeches. Afterwards, he was handed around to a number of the attendees, which included Ben's staff from the University.

Needless to say, he was the hit of the party.

Some photos

First picture of us as a family.

Connor in the nursery after his first bath.

Updating the blog this evening.

Welcome to the world...

Connor William Streetman greeted the world this past Saturday, April 5th at 2:58pm. He weighed in at a whopping 9 lbs 5 ozs and measured 21 inches long.

My water broke at 2:45 am Friday night after having been at the doctor's office for a visit earlier that day. Call the on-call OB number and was told at 3:30 am to go on to the hospital. Paul and I decided we were in for a long haul, got everything we could quickly taken care of, and arrived at the hospital at about 5:00 am. At about 9 in the morning, I could not take the pain anymore and decided on having an epidural. After being in labor from essentially 2:45 am and now being at 2:20 pm, the decision was made that progress was not being made. I was still at 3-4 cm dilated at that point and he had not really moved down any. Since the epidural was already on board, we were in the operating room very quickly (I think the time they stated as 2:33 as the time we entered the OR for prepping), and he was out within 5 minutes from the start of the first incision.

The first comment from the OB that delivered Connor was "This is a solid boy." We didn't really realize how solid until they call back to the OR from the nursery with his stats. Paul had called it right on target. When we had been at the doctor's office on Friday, the estimate on the ultrasound was 9 lbs 1 ounce.

Fast forward to today, Tuesday, and we are adjusting to our new world. We will be checking out of the hospital tomorrow and headed home. I decided to stay at the hospital one more day so we were well rested and of course had a free support staff around us to help us as best possible. The medical staff here at Seton has been phenomenal. They have done everthing they could to keep us comfortable and help us get adjusted to the new world around us.

We are still deciding who he looks like but he was born with a decent amount of hair (blonde, light brown, kinda red) and his eyes are currently a slate blue color. I am assuming that will change as he gets older but who knows.

I will post some photos in a little bit.

Still Going

Well, it is Thursday evening (4/3) and the feisty one is still hanging out and refusing to budge. At the risk of offending all the guys, typical male... Sorry, couldn't resist!

I have been spending time periodically on the treadmill walking about 30 minutes at a time encouraging him to take a hint. I think he is enjoying it too much "on the inside".

Tomorrow is another doctor's appointment along with an ultrasound to see how he is doing otherwise. I don't expect any major revelations from this appointment. We will go over what we need to do for checking into the hospital for baby's eviction date coming up on Monday.

I'm still hoping that we don't get to Monday's induction and that he decides it is time to greet the world.

Also, the nursery is coming along. Although it won't be ready in time for baby to arrive, it will be great when it is finished. We have put in plumbing to have a sink, making it easier to wash hands and bathe baby and have plans for putting in a TV for when I'm up at all hours with the him. I will post up pictures once it is done.

Week 40 update (long)

This one will be long so I hope you are prepared to sit and read for a few minutes. I’ve been remiss in updating but you will understand once you read the events of the past week.

Nope, baby is not here yet. Today is the “due date” but he doesn’t seem ready to grace the world with his presence. From here on out, the phone calls (as in my answering them) stop. I will let you know if there is any progress or if he has arrived. Yes, I have had a bad day/week and I’m really tired of answering “Is there any progress? Is the baby here yet?” I will call or post updates here when there is news to be had. We sincerely appreciate all the offers to help but there is not anything that anyone can do at this point. We will let you know when/if help is needed.

Wednesday’s appointment was actually well timed. I had woken up at 3 in the morning not feeling very well, blaming it on dinner the night before at Chuy’s. I had finally moved to the couch at 4 to get some sleep and allow Paul some time to sleep as well. I was having a hard time determining if it was contractions or just gas but knew I felt like I had been run over. Get to the doctor’s office and they knew something was up. My normal, cheery self was nowhere to be found. BP was high (normal) however, I had finally dilated to 1 cm. Progress… My doctor decides to go ahead and hook me up to the fetal monitor just to see what was up. Baby’s heartbeat was up and down (makes them happy to see it speed up and slow down) and I was having contractions 1 to 3 minutes apart. Paul asked if I was feeling all of them and I said that I was not. I was only able to feel every other or third one. After about 20 minutes on the monitor, they send me along my way with a comment from my doctor saying that she expected to see me again later that evening. She was actually on call Wednesday night so it was good timing on all of our parts. She also strongly suggested that I get some sleep and gave me a prescription for some Ambien. I was a little hesitant at first but after having a partial emotional breakdown in the exam room, gave it a second thought and headed to the pharmacy.

After a decent nap Wednesday afternoon, and after having called various family to give them a potential “heads up”, my contractions finally got to the point of being regular enough to be timed. Got all the way to consistent contractions, 5-7 minutes apart, that stopped at midnight. It was like the baby turned into a pumpkin. Twenty-one hours of false labor later, I head off to bed, since it seemed like I was done for the night.

I woke up at 5 am Thursday with a horrible backache, to the point that any little movement with my left leg almost (and sometimes did) bring me to tears. I moved to the couch again thinking that I would be able to find a better position to sleep in. WRONG!!! After hours of fighting it and surviving on Tylenol and a heating pad, I finally gave in and called the doctors office. At that point, my doctor was gone for the day and her nurse had already finished returning calls for the day. I had a chat with the after hours nurse with pretty much the recommendation of 2 Tylenol every 4 hours and alternate hot and cold on my back.

I slept sitting up on the couch in the study Thursday night as that was the only place and position that was comfortable. My staying there also allowed Paul to get a good night’s sleep since I was not in the bed groaning and thrashing about from the pain. He has been very understanding about my level of discomfort at this point and is doing what he can to make me a happier camper. I will admit that I have not been the greatest person to be around the past few weeks and he has been an absolute trooper.

Friday morning, I get a somewhat frantic call from the nurse asking how I was doing and could I come in later that morning. We were off to the doctor’s office again so she could take a look at my back. She seemed genuinely surprised that she did not hear from us Wednesday night (that makes several of us). We come to the conclusion that I was dealing with back spasms probably due to the number of hours I was in false labor on Wednesday. She gave me a prescription for Vicodin to get through the pain and allow me to be more comfortable. One pill makes me sleepy and makes baby hyper, which meant I was trying to take a nap and he was having a party.

She checked to see if I had dilated any more and the answer was no. Her comment was that had I been around 3 cm dilated, she would have seriously considered inducing labor at that point but since I was still at 1, the risk of a c-section was not worth putting me through induction at that point.

That being said, we now have an expiration and/or induction date set. If he doesn’t decide to grace the world with his presence by April 6th, then I get to go to the hospital on April 7th to be induced. We now have a definite end date but I think we are all hoping we don’t get to that point. The joke from the doctor’s office is that if they setup an induction date, that works some voodoo magic and baby decides to come out on their own. Let’s hope this is the case.

My back is still giving me some problems but I don’t think I will be done with the issues I am having until he is out and not being the cause of the strain. Contractions come and go and don’t seem to be very willing to set up any kind of pattern for longer than an hour or two. I did get a massage yesterday (Saturday) and that seemed to relieve a lot of the pain I was feeling in my hips and lower back. I may need to repeat that in a few days if little one has not arrived yet

My next appointment is set for Friday and we are also set up for what they call a biophysical profile which will include an ultrasound to make sure all is going well in his little world. I would take great pleasure in being able to cancel that one.

Week 38 - The Journey continues...

So I'm beginning to feel a little like a really run down Energizer bunny these days. I have to keep going and going but the batteries are starting to run really low.

Today's doctor's visit was more of a pep talk from the doctor to me, reminding me that I am less than 2 weeks away from my due date and that she understands that I am ready to be done. When I walked in the exam room, it was very obvious that I was tired and that I have not been sleeping good at night. I have started taking naps on a daily basis and that seems to help get me through the day.

Baby's heartbeat was strong and easy to hear. There was a student nurse following my nurse around today so I was used a little like a guinea pig for her to be able to get some experience in an OB office. No big deal, just more people in the room.

Since my blood pressure has been consistent with its ups and downs during a visit, the doctor decided to go ahead and do some blood work just to make sure there is no preeclampsia lurking around and just do a baseline check on all of my levels.

I'm still not dilated at all, however, as part of the pep talk my doctor tried to reassure me that with a lot of first time babies that there is no dilation until labor actually starts.

Final thought - it is a full moon on Friday. Place all the bets you want but I'm not convinced that the feisty one is anywhere near ready to make an appearance. Paul would like him to hold out over the weekend so we can get some more work done on the nursery. We shall see...

A little humor in honor of St. Patrick's Day

As soon as she had finished parochial school, a bright young girl named Lena shook the dust of Ireland off her shoes and made her way to New York where before long, she became a successful performer in show business.

Eventually she returned to her home town for a visit and on a Saturday night went to confession in the church which she had always attended as a child. In the confessional Father Sullivan recognized her and began asking her about her work. She explained that she was an acrobatic dancer, and he wanted to know what that meant.

She said she would be happy to show him the kind of thing she did on stage.

She stepped out of the confessional and within sight of Father Sullivan, she went into a series of cartwheels, leaping splits, handsprings and backflips. Kneeling near the confessional, waiting their turn, were two middle-aged ladies.

They witnessed Lena's acrobatics with wide eyes, and one said to the other: "Will you just look at the penance Father Sullivan is givin' out this night, and me without me bloomers on!"

Sleep... or the lack thereof

Sleep these days is quickly becoming a fleeting memory - or at least good sleep is. Being able to sleep, wake up, and move to a different position with little to no pain is something that just doesn't occur now. Not only is it painful to move positions but it takes a very slow and coordinated effort to do so. My hips now start to cramp up in the middle of the night from sleeping/laying on that particular side too long. So then it is the 10 minute changeover to laying on my other side with that hip cramping after about 1.5 - 2 hours of sleep.

I have to keep telling myself that it will all be over soon; however, I have the distinct feeling that I am just kidding myself into believing that and sleep as I once knew it is gone forever.

Since I am working from home from here on out, my alarm clock has officially been turned off. Now if I could just figure out how to turn off the dog's alarm clocks, I would be in great shape. They will both harass me (not Paul for some odd reason) until I get out of bed and then they go back to sleep. They have such an easy life...

Today's update

This one will be quick.

Checkup went well today. Since I was only seeing the nurse practitioner, there wasn't as much done and I was in and out of the office fairly quickly.

The feisty one's heartbeat was easily found today and came through very strong. You could hear it speed up and slow down while we were listening. Seems to be something they (OB) likes to hear. He is measuring on target again and the comment was made that he seemed to be in a tight ball. I'm not sure I agree with that comment because he seems to take every chance to see how far he can stretch out. My blood pressure kept up with its status quo of first measurement high then the second one in line.

No other checks were done so stay tuned for next week's update. Same Bat time, Same Bat station.

19 days and counting

So I've now reached the point that I am sick of being pregnant. Yes, I did say that. My morning routine is now interrupted fairly regularly with contractions, forcing me to go chill out for about 10 minutes before continuing on with my day. But like I said before, all these contractions, yet no progress. They do a great job of zapping my energy and killing my motivation for the day. Getting to be a little on the been there, done that side.

We are still working on thoughts regarding baby's room. We have been so consumed with other things (house plans/permitting, marathon training, etc.) that this has not really been a priority until now. Goal is to clean out the back (master) bathroom and make it the temporary baby's room. Since there is no plumbing or other things to work around (other than boxes of stuff) it should be fairly easy. (Should being the operative term there.)

As far as work now goes, I'm in the office today but I have a strong feeling that I am working from home for the remainder of the pregnancy. See note above about morning routine. I have to set up my voice mail today with the message of don't leave one or you may not get a call back until early August.

Tomorrow is yet another full day and does include a visit to the doctor's office. I will not be seeing my OB since she is taking vacation this week but will see one of the nurse practitioners to do a progress check. More news on that tomorrow. All I can say is GET OUT!!!

House Update

Tonight was the hearing with the RDCC on our request for a waiver to the McMansion ordinance.

The commissioners could not have been more cordial and complimentary of the fact that our application had 32 letters of support from neighbors. The request was a unanimous 8-0 vote in favor of approving the waiver.

Next steps are to work with an architect or structural engineer to get the plans stamped and made official for the permitting process. Then the final permit application can be made and the house as we know it starts changing dramatically.

Now the money starts flowing out the door.

Week 37 Update

After Monday's visit to the doctor's office due to a fast developing rash on my abdomen, all has calmed down on the baby front... sort of.

Today's checkup started out eventful with the nurse coming in to check the baby's heartbeat. She got to hear it for a second then it disappeared.... She tried for several minutes to find it again but to no avail. In comes the doctor with the ultrasound machine to see what he was up to. We were able to see his little heart pumping away and his chest moving in a breathing motion. Good news!

Since the norm for my blood pressure seems to be high when first checked then fine after they have had me lay down for a few minutes, they decided to then hook me up to the fetal monitor to see how fast his heart was beating and to see how my contractions were going. Little one was NOT happy about that fetal monitor. He did his best to kick and stretch to get rid of it, so since he couldn't get it to move, he got peeved enough to have a long (4 minute) bout of the hiccups.

Contractions are becoming a normal part of my morning routine now. I keep hoping they are helping me make some progress however, I'm still at 0 on the dilation scale. UGH!! I also got the lecture today that I am not resting enough so it will be interesting to see how I am able to move around my work schedule to accomodate some more rest during the day.

Oh, and the rash... Doing much better today after some benadryl and cortaid cream treatments however this is part of my new routine from here on out.

Week 36 Update

Well, the little one is being a bit uncooperative these days. I have been having more contractions on a regular basis but no progress is currently being made. However, the checkup was good and we are mostly on track. Little boy is still measuring a little big but at this point he is mostly in range.

From here on out, the checkups will occur on a weekly basis.