Rockaway 2009

I just looked at my last post and realized it's almost been a month. A lot has happened. I'll start with our Rockaway Beach vacation.

It was another great vacation/reunion at Rockaway Beach. I'm not sure what the official count was this year but I'm guessing around 50 people showed up at some point in time. Lezlie and I ended up going down on Monday but left Maya with my Mom and Dad. They ended up coming down Thursday morning. It was kind of hard to leave her as we had never been without her for more than 2 days. So of course, we were waiting at the door as my Mom and Dad drove up, just itching to get our hands on our little girl. She was all smiles as usual, but the toddler in her soon came out and she got bored of us and wanted to explore.

The rest of the week we did a lot of chasing, but we got a lot of help from family. Cousins Alyssa and Bailey helped out a bunch and were very reliable. And of course, Grandma and Grandpa helped out a lot too. Most of the time, Maya just wanted to swing. In total, I'm betting Lezlie and I spent a good solid 4 hours swinging Maya at the playground.

We went to the pool a couple times. We quickly learned that Maya would have nothing to do with her little lilly pad floating device. It was just too constrictive for an almost-two-year-old. I tried to take her out and swim with her. But again, this was just too constrictive. She wanted to swim herself. Obviously, I did not let her try. So, we settled for the kiddie pool. One of us sat in the pool and the other sat outside of the pool to ensure that she didn't take a b-line and dive in the big kid pool. Ah, the joys of chasing a toddler.

This seems to be the only way we can get Maya to smile for the camera. We don't say "cheese," we say "show your teeth." It may look a little fake but at least she's smiling.
All in all, it was a fun time but we were definitely ready to get home and sleep in our own bed. But that whole work thing...ya, we weren't so excited about that.

Mark Your Calendars

Tuesday, October 6, 2009 at 11:30am. That is when our baby boy will be delivered. For Maya, after 20 hours of labor, the doctors finally decided to have a C-section. So this time, Lezlie had the choice to do another C-section. Let's just say it was an easy decision...for both of us. I honestly don't think I have been awake for that long in my life. And, you all know how I like to sleep.

Lezlie tried to talk the doctor into delivering earlier (she's already ready to get it over with), but she was rejected. The official 9-month due date is October 13th, and the doctor likes to deliver C-section a week early. Any earlier, and insurance will not pay.

On another note, Lezlie and I are officially on vacation. We'll be heading home to Cole Camp for a couple days and then off to Rockaway Beach/Branson. We initially were gonna save our vacation, but I think we waited too long before taking some time off. So, we decided to take the whole week. Grandma Barb is even gonna take Maya from us for a few days. As much as I'd like some time away from responsibility, I'm sure I'll be missing her smile the minute we leave. But, I know she will be given all the attention in the world.

Maya's New Friend

Maya got to see her new friend, Kaylee Marie Dick, for the first time outside of the hospital last night. She seemed to take to her fairly well. Let's just say it's good training for Maya before the new baby boy comes to live in our home. There were a couple times when Lezlie and I were holding her and Maya insisted that she be held also. But once she got to hold her herself, she thought it was the coolest thing in the world.It turns out that Kaylee is quite a bit better at the whole "waking up in the middle of the night" thing. Tommy and Julie only have to wake her up to feed. This was definitely not the case for Maya. But, at least there is hope that the next one can be better. However, this past week has been tough for Maya (and Mommy and Daddy). She is getting her 2 year molars and continues to really pull at those teeth and wake up in the middle of the night. Something tells me that God is trying to prepare us for another year of sleepless nights.

1 Pound, 2 ounces

Just wanted to update everybody after our appointment. Our big boy weighs a whole 1 lb, 2 oz. At least that is what they measured. To me, that sounds small but they said it's normal. I guess the growth rate really accelerates near the end. The heartbeat was 140 which is normal also.

While we were watching him during the ultrasound, we could see him take big gulps of the amniotic fluid. Not long after, we could see him hiccuping. Then, the nurse explained to us that the amniotic fluid is actually a mixture of the baby's own urine. I know I've been through this before but this whole birth thing still amazes me.