fall baby

we found a great tree in our neighborhood, with beautiful orange & red leaves this fall.  so, during a walk, we brought a few things and set haley up for some fall season pictures! 

sorry all you aggies out there...but it looks like haley already made her university choice at 1 month age! 

she's grabbing onto everything now - it's really cool

just chillin in my sunglasses from aunt kerrie!

i'm so comfy on my tummy

wiggle worm

at 2 and 1/2 weeks old, haley surprised us by rolling onto her side!!!  then a few days ago, at 3 weeks old, we had her on her tummy and she rolled from tummy to her side to her back!  she did it 2 times in a row, but i missed the first half on my video.  she is also lifting her head up a lot on her own, but still has the typical newborn flail.  sometimes when we put her on her tummy to strengthen her neck/arms, she just falls asleep.  i guess she's going to be a tummy sleeper like her mommy!  she's so strong already - we're going to have our hands full!!

haley on her side at 2 1/2 wks old

haley also loves to stretch out - i guess it's because she was so crammed up at the end of my pregnancy! here's a pic of her 'chillin' on the couch.  it's hard to measure her, but we think she's close to 22 inches long by now.

here's a video of haley rolling to her side in her pack & play.

all the visitors

haley had lots of visitors the first few weeks of her life!  at the hospital, we had our friends tamara, brian and chris, then trey's roomate of 8 years jeff, plus my friends from work jennifer & nick.  after the hospital, our friends steve & kerri came over.  we also got some beautiful flowers from all of trey's colleagues.  thanks to everyone for visiting! 

tamara & brian



jennifer & nick



haley & kerri



beautiful flowers from trey's coworkers

hiccup monster!

during my 3rd trimester, haley got hiccups 4-5 times per day, some strong enough to wake me up at night.  well, the trend has continued since she's was born, and they are super loud and strong sometimes.  we feel really bad for her, but luckily she doesn't seem to mind.  she's only gotten upset a few times when she's had them, thank God.  here's a short video clip of her with the hiccups.  even with a passie, it's still really loud!

Grandma & Grandpa Preisler in town!

We dropped my mom off at the airport on Oct 9, and waited there about 30 minutes to pick up trey's parents, who stayed for the next 7 days.  So, we had 2 solid weeks of help!  It was great having them here - their last visit was over 5 years ago, when we had just moved into the house.  And of course they were excited to meet haley in person!  Unfotunately it had been 3 hours since we left the house till we got back from the airport, so i had to feed haley right when we got home.  So, grandma had to wait even longer before she could hold her.  But, they got plenty of bonding time in and there weren't many moments that week when she wasn't being held!  ;-)  Grandpa warmed up to her too and was holding her like a champ soon enough. 

Trey worked some during that week, but also spent some good quality time with his parents.  Dad really helped trey out with fixing the fence, gate & stairs in the back yard.  The fence was bowing out and we got a letter from the homeowners association saying we needed to fix it.  So, dad used his experience to get the right items (auger anchors) to help trey fix it.  And, they made the stairs look real nice & put rebar down to ensure that they don't shift, even when the dirt washes away. (there's a hill right behind our fence, so lots of soil erosion.)  Everything looks great, and now i can actually open the back gate!  They also put up a motion detecting light in the back, so we are all fixed up! 

In addition to bonding with haley, grandma helped out around the house with cooking, laundry and cleaning as well!  That was a big help for me since i was busy feeding haley every few hours!  and haley got two more baths with  me and grandma that week--she did so well.

We also tried the first bottle that week.  It was at Carrabas on Saturday night, after we went to church.  I didn't have a way to heat it up, so it didn't go over that well, but she managed to drink about 2 oz which was enough to hold her over a few hours.  it was a team effort with trey holding her and me holding the bottle!  hahaha. 

by sunday night, i was so exhausted that I agreed to let grandma give her a bottle for the midnight shift so i could get several hours of sleep in a row.  this time, it was heated and grandma said she did really well.  It was awesome for me too, to get 4-5 hours of sleep in a row!  so, we kept doing that the rest of the week while they were here.  i really appreciated that. 

we also went on a few trips with grandma to babies r us and in haley's jogging stroller around the neighborhood.  the jogging stroller was a gift from lorie, sara, kerrie, and lindsey (shower hostesses) and works so well going up and down over bumps in the sidewalk.  haley slept with her mouth wide open the entire walk, but luckily did not catch any bugs!  ;-) 

here are a few pics from grandma & grandpa's trip here. 

Grandpa & Haley!

i love how haley is looking at grandma!

haley was working grandpa - making him put her passie in each time she spit it out!  ;-)

Grandma Jochec in town, plus first bath at home!

my mom flew in on oct 2, for 7 days.  it was great having her around to help us out and give us all the tips and tricks she's learned from taking care of tyler & carson the last 2 years!  she made lots of great blankets, and even a big kitty quilt for haley, which have really come in handy.  grandma taught me how to swaddle haley real tight and how to best change diapers to ensure nothing leaks out!  haley loved spending time with her too!  mom stayed up with haley from the 10pm-1am shift so that i could get some sleep & also helped out around the house a ton - cleaning and doing laundry, etc.  i think she went up and down our stairs at least 50 times during the week!  thanks!!!

we went on our first trips into town with grandma - to babies r us, BJs, JC Penny, Safeway, and for a few walks around the neighborhood.   haley was a trooper and did soooo good!   here are some pics from grandma's time here.   my dad (pepaw) had to work and could not make the trip here, but we look forward to seeing him in december! 

i love grandma!

look in the mirror

she was awake for a few minutes!

mom also helped with haley's first & second baths at home!  haley did so well, and didn't seem to mind the water too much, as long as we kept a warm washcloth on her tummy to keep her somewhat warm.  of course she cried, but it was not as bad as when they bathed her in the hospital the day we were released!

thanks to aunt sara & uncle jake for the digital turtle thermometer, to help be sure the water was warm enough!  i NEVER would have made it that warm on my own, but she seemed to really love the temperature when we had the water on her.

first bath at home!!

trying to get her all rinsed off - she likes the warm water on her

2 week doctor appt - Oct 7, 2010

haley had her 2 week appointment today, Oct 7.  she has surpassed her birth weight and is now at 8 lbs 12 oz!  they were hoping she'd be 8 lbs 9 oz, so she did even better!  no formula either. the doc told trey he needs to take me out to a nice restaurant!  hahaha.  the shape of her head is normalizing, so the doc said he was very pleased with the progress.  so, overall we got great news.  she's smiling a lot;  her neck is getting stronger & she is a little wiggle worm.  they did not measure her lenght today, but she is already too long for some of the newborn outfits, so i know she's grown in length as well.  

i'm doing good after the c-section--moving around really well, and most of the fluid build up is FINALLY gone.  i have dropped most of my pregnancy weight but can't fit into my pre-prego clothes yet.  i have to wait about 4 more weeks before i can start working out, but we did go on our first walk in the neighborhood today. 

 

1 week doctor appt - Sept 28, 2010

we had haley's first pediatrician visit on september 28, 2010.  she did well, but got extremely hungry/cold/mad once we stripped her down and she was wide awake.  (i fed her right before the appt, but that did not matter!!)  and the pediatric nurse recommended we not give her a passie, so we just let her cry during the appt! ;-(  (that will change at home though!  gotta have a passie sometimes!!)  we are taking her to a group practice with ~8-10 docs.  we saw 2 different docs in the hospital and another one today.  we really like all of them so far!

anyway, haley checked out really well - they said she's in great shape all around.  she has gained weight since we left the hospital:  was 7 lbs 14 oz at discharge on sunday, sept 26, and is 8 lbs today.  her head measured in the 75th percentile, so lots of good brains in there!  she measured 21 1/4 inches long, which is in the 90-95th percentile, and her weight is in the 50-75th percentile.  so, all good numbers!!

i am doing pretty well after the c-section, but have HORRIBlE swelling from my knees down.  feels like my toes are going to pop!  the doc says it's normal and will just take time.  i have not been in any pain except when i laugh, cough or sneeze - that really hurts my cut.  but tylenol typically makes it feel better, so i have taken that a few times.

we have basically set up our dining room as the nursery since i can only take stairs 2-3 times a day, so the main level of the house is pretty much a wreck, but trey has been great at cooking for us and cleaning up the kitchen so that i don't have to worry about any chores!  he's a great daddy!  he is really good with her - loves holding her and talking to her & and has taken her upstairs a few hours each day so that i can sleep.  he got the biggest kick today out of her rooting on his arm for food! 

we are doing very well during our first week at home, and enjoying our little blessing from God. 



Haley changed the channel on daddy when she was sitting in the recliner with him!  HaHa, he already has competition for the remote.  Doesn't she look so tiny here?  She was 5 days old.



First picture with her eyes wide open and almost a smile.  She was 5 days old here.

haley's surprise birthday

my due date was september 23, 2010.  during most of the pregnancy, we thought haley was head down, ready for a normal delivery.  this was based on the doctors examinations, not an ultrasound. i did keep feeling something really hard moving up in my ribs, but was told it was her bootie, so i just thought she had a very bony butt.  however, at my very last scheduled appointment, 3 days before my due date, the doctor discovered she was actually heads up, in a breech position.  talk about a shock!!  trey was not with me at the appt, so i had to call him to land on a day to go in for a c-section.  my choices were the next day or 2 days later.  we landed on the next day so that i could get my doctor of choice, and then i went home to figure out what we had to do to get the house ready.  since i could not go up and down stairs except ~2 times a day, we had to buy a pack and play and converted our dining room into a nursery. 

we went in at noon on September 23, for a 1:30 surgery. however, things were a bit behind, and haley was actually born at 2:22 pm, and weighed 8 lbs 6 oz , and was 21 1/2 inches long!  given how my belly looked, we were ALL shocked at her size, and i was so thankful that the doctors discovered she was breech and i didn't try to push her out!  ;-) 

she was healthy when she came out and once they cleaned her up, we got to hold her for a little bit.  then, trey and haley went to a recovery area and she got to bond with daddy for about an hour, while i was being sewn up.  i spent about 2 hours in recovery, because they would not let me leave until i could move my toes.  then we were moved to our private room where we stayed for 3 nights.  all the nurses & staff members in the hospital were great!   

mommy & me!!

our angel

belly shots

i had a great pregnancy - the biggest issues were the typical nausea and heartburn the first 4 months, and then just pain in the hips & calves at night when i tried to sleep. but i rarely had backpain, and only had swollen feet one day.  my hands were puffy the last month, but nothing major. i got really slow towards the end - trey had to try very hard to walk slow enough to not leave me in the dust, but he managed to adjust. ;-)  here are some pics of the pregnancy.

21 wks prego

27 wks prego

34 and 1/2 wks prego

38 wks prego