You know, folks should know by now that if they want to just pass me in the hallway and be polite but move on, asking me about my baby is NOT the way to do that! If you ask me about my baby, I will TELL you about my baby, down to the very last detail!! I can go ON and ON and ON about my baby so unless you want to hear it all, don't ask!!

Pshaw...civilians.... ;)

Hey Kerri - I was just thinking about you and Lorelai and realized you haven't been on since the 29th, or at least haven't journaled since then. Is everything ok?? I'm hoping you are just being a normal new mommy and have your hands full and that everything is happy and everyone is healthy - which is great, we all understand completely being home the first few weeks you don't even have time to brush your hair let alone blog!!!!! :-) I just wanted to throw this message out to let you know you're being missed and that we're thinking about you and your precious new little one. Let us know how things are going when you get a chance!

Wow! What an experience. My water broke at 3:30am Friday morning but active labor did not kick in until about 7:00pm Saturday night. We ran back and forth to the birth center a couple of times for them to check on me and the baby and make sure everything was ok and since it was they continued to let me labor at home. When it finally kicked it we definitely knew it though and headed back down there to start the real work.

I know that people say that there are hormones that kick in during birth that cause you to forget a lot of what you go through but I didn't really believe it. I do believe it now b/c thinking back to the labor part I'm struggling to really remember what it was all about. I don't mind too much though. When we arrived back at the birth center in active labor I was 3cm dilated and doing well but they did not want to let me get into the jacuzzi until I was between 5-7cm dilated. If they let you in earlier than that it can slow down the labor but if you wait until you are over 5cm dilated then it helps speed things up. I tried different positions, standing, walking, the birth ball, a rocking chair, to help move the labor along. The more active you can be the faster the labor moves. I was also able to nap between the contractions and that was a big relief too.

When they checked me again I was 5cm dilated and able to get into the jacuzzi. It felt so good to be able to be in the hot water and float a little bit. When I felt like pushing they took me out of the tub and checked me again and I was 9cm dilated. The jacuzzi moved things along really quickly for me. When I finally hit 10cm we started pushing. That part I remember clearly still. I pushed for about 30 minutes and Lorelai came through my pelvic bones without a problem. However, when she got to the perineum I could not push her through and they had to do a small episiotomy to help her pass but once that was done she was out and on my belly.

What a crazy feeling. There was a baby on my belly and it was mine and she was beautiful and alert and just so amazing. She has a full head of black hair like her daddy and beautiful dark blue-green eyes. I still cannot believe she is mine!

What a great day it was...Nathan's first Easter! It may have been hard to get him to bed after a very exciting day but it's worth it since Nathan had such a special time. I think the pictures speak for themselves...

"Does the Easter Bunny bring babies a basket for Easter?" That is the question I was asked today by my soon to be 6 year old nephew. He seems to be very concerned about my son Nathan getting an Easter basket and like any true blue kid, if it will have chocolate in it. I did inform him that Nathan would get a basket but no candy. Then has asked me if maybe there would be baby stuff in it like some clothes or toys. What a smart kid. I assured him Nathan would get things he would like. Makes you realize how important it is to do things for babies even if they dont get it quite yet...there are other little eyes and ears that do!

Nathan had fun today watching his cousins dye easter eggs for the first time. He loved the bright colors and always has fun listening to them laugh and play. Jessie and Andrew are staying over so I got some great pictures of the fun they all had today. It is so awesome for them to have each other to play with and create these special holiday memories with. Tomorrow we are all going to an brunch and easter egg hunt so I hope to have some fun photos of that too. It will be an extra special Easter since I am actually back home for this one and of course since it is Nathan's first! HAPPY EASTER!

Oh my gosh, or should I say gush! My water broke at 3:30 this morning. I have had a feeling for a month or so that Lorelai would be early but somehow I doubted it. Well, it looks like she is on her way. I'm not having contractions yet but that is fine with me.

I called the midwife to let her know that my water had broke and she asked me a number of questions and confirmed my suspicions. She told me to try and go back to sleep for a few hours since I would have a long day ahead of me. Who can sleep with all this excitement! I had to have an outlet for it so that I wouldn't wake up Joe yet so I'm sharing it with all of you. I'm a list maker so when I tried to lay back down all I could do was make lists of things to do before leaving for the birth center.

So it looks like later today or tonight we will be home with our little girl. The way it works at my birth center is that you go in and deliver the baby. Once you have her and they confirm that we are both doing fine then they send you home, no 2 day hospital stay. They keep you for at least 4 hours after deliver because if something is going to happen to either one of us then it will happen in the first four hours. We are required to stay six but at our birth center they let you stay for 12 hours.

I'm sorry I'm rambling right now but I'm sure you can all understand, I just so excited.

Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to post some pictures and give you details.

So tonight was extra special since Nathan went to bed all by himself! No rocking, no nursing just put him in his crib and said night night and a few mintues later after making some noise he went to sleep peacefully all on his own. I am so stinkin' proud of him!!!! I am really praying this is the start of something good here. My struggles were that I rocked him to sleep for the first 3 months of his life and he went to bed at 11pm, well he woke up so many times that it was just several naps really. I was ready to lose my mind on night when I tried to put him asleep into his crib 7 times!!!!! Everytime he hit that mattress he would wake up and scream. I knew something had to change so after a month of work and both of us being ready here we are with me being able to say he went to sleep all on his own and is sleeping really well at night. Oh does that feel good to say! I am going to post a discussion board on what I did to get to this point to maybe help someone else that was in my boat...there is a lot advice on sleep but I found little on actually teaching them fall asleep on their own without crying it out. Here is a pic of him and his blanket he needs to fall asleep with.

Although Nathan has been using his hands for awhile now to touch things and of couse suck on, he seems to have just discovered them yesterday. It was one of the sweetest moments I have had with him as I watched him hold his arm out straight and his hand opened and twisted it back and forth and just stared amazed that he was controlling it. His Uncle Mark was here last night and got to see him do it several times when Nathan was sitting in his high chair. Now he seems to be doing it all the time, just sitting there with that arm straight out as if he is waving. Oh it is soooo darn cute! It is those times when you truly realize how incredible the journey of a baby growing and learning is and I am grateful just to be with him to catch those special experiences.