2 weeks already!

yesterday was janie's two week birthday. we celebrated by taking her to see dr. lim and giving her her first bath. i don't think she will be a big fan of birthdays in the future is we continue to celebrate in those ways. she was actually really great at the doctor-didn't cry a bit, not even when they put a freezing cold stethoscope on her naked little body. she is going to fit into our family well, as she is big fan of eating. weighing in at 7 lbs 4 oz yesteday, she has already gained almost a pound. the doctor told us that she's absolutely perfect, which we already knew, but apparently it becomes official when someone with a phd says so.

on wednesday we had an appointment with a lactation consultant, and as i was feeding janie in this lady's office i noticed that she had remnants of poop caked onto her leg from a major disaster that had occurred at 3:00 that morning. i prayed that the milk lady didn't see and report us to social services, and decided that there was no better time for her first bath. as you can see in the photos below, she loved every minute of it.

not so happy about it coming to an end.

her first two weeks have been filled with much activity. at just 5 days old she enjoyed her first trip to starbucks with daddy. a few days later she braved the millenia mall, and it became clear that she will love shopping as much as her mom. on wednesday she spent 6 hours posed in boxes, bowls and suitcases for her first photoshoot, thanks to callahan photo. (photos should be up on their website sometime today). she wasn't loving it at the time, but she will be so glad to have great pictures of herself when she gets older. we are really fortunate that she has been such a great sleeper after all that we've put her through. she graduated from the bassinet last weekend and now sleeps in her cozy crib every night. and, we made it 15 days without a pacifier.

(aunt becky, we tried to take picture like this for your birthday as well, but the paper cuts were making her a little upset and she didn't last very long. we celebrated you both all day on tuesday!)

andy blogs

i've been trying to get andy to write for some time now, and he was worried that his material would be far too melancholy for our lighthearted blog. after janie's baptism yesterday, he was inspired to write his first blog ever, and i think it's great. so here it is, a little something from the much more intellectual third of the simonds', along with a few photos from sunday for good measure...

In the late fall of 1998 I sat down in a big leather chair in the office of the Dean of the School of Religion at Belmont University. I would be graduating in a few days with a degree bearing his signature, and I was there for my exit interview. He asked questions about my educational experience, and my answers probably more than his questions led us to a place where we were talking about why I wasn’t sure anymore about the existence of God. I told him that there was something deep inside me that just wouldn’t let me walk away from my faith either. I was still surprised by the warmth in my heart and wetness in my eyes that would well up upon hearing some old hymn or reading a story in scripture that I thought I knew well. I remember him saying that this was a good starting place for rebuilding my faith and theology, and I remember thinking that was a nice sentiment. But more than that I remember struggling with this disturbing thought: Maybe that something deep inside me isn’t some mystic connection with God, or the Holy Spirit at work… Maybe it is just stuck in my subconscious because I was brainwashed with it as a child! Maybe it became true for me before reason became part of the equation and maybe that’s why reason still couldn’t really touch it. I remember brushing all this under the rug and deciding to forget I’d left it there.

Tonight I was reading Janie’s picture Bible, and I was surprised by the warmth in my heart and the wetness in my eyes… and with a lump in my throat I became suddenly grateful for the stuff my parents told me before reason became a part of the equation.

Proverbs 22:5-6

5 In the paths of the wicked lie thorns and snares,
but he who guards his soul stays far from them.
6 Train a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it.

janie caroline simonds

she's here! after what seemed like an endless 9 months of anticipating and preparing for her arrival, janie was born at 12:30 am on january 7. she weighed 6 pounds 7 ounces and was 19 3/4 inches long. we think she is absolutely perfect - no matter what she does it's the "cutest thing ever"...yawning, sneezing, stretching, even screaming.

it is amazing to me how much we loved her from the minute we laid eyes on her. parents tell you all the time that this will be the case, but it is so unfathomable until you're actually in it. the entire process of being induced, being in labor and delivering went so smoothly. i am grateful for all of those who shared their horror stories, because i was prepared for the absolute worst and it wasn't so bad at all. i wasn't sure how i would know when the right time to get an epidural would be because i don't really know how to rank my pain on a scale of one to ten. i can assure you that i quickly learned the difference between discomfort and intolerable pain, and luckily was able to get an anesthesiologist in the room pretty shortly after to give me an epidural. i googled the inventor of the epidural in hopes of being able to track him down and write the most sincere thank you note i've ever sent, and in doing so i learned that it was exactly 68 years ago to the day on january 6 that an epidural was first given to humans. once the numbness kicked in, andy, caroline, my mom and i celebrated the birthday of the greatest drug around by listening to and laughing at the screamer in the room next door, reminiscing on things we stole as children, and sharing other ridiculous stories that i wish i remembered because i don't know that i've ever laughed harder in my life. had i been able to move my legs, i would have been running laps around the hospital.

in a nutshell, at around 11:30 things started progressing much quicker than they had been all day. our wonderful nurse, ashley, called my doctor to let her know that we were getting close to starting to push, and within minutes it seemed there was a flurry of activity around our room as nurses prepared the baby warmer, biohazard bucket, a tray of lots of intriguing silver tools, and smelling salts, juice and ice for andy. dr. thatcher arrived just as we started pushing, and within 30 minutes janie made her appearance! andy remained conscious the entire time, and he even watched as our sweet baby girl came into the world. i cried as soon as i saw her for the first time, and still cry every time i look at her in my arms and think about how amazing it is that she is here and that she is ours. we can't wait for everyone to meet her!

on our way to the hospital...

14 hours later!

first family photo

our wonderful nurse and friend, ashley.

proud daddy.

today is the day.

we are on our way out the door, so this will be quick! we are heading to the hospital in hopes of being induced at 9:00. apparently there are lots of babies being born this week and the hospital has been super busy, so there's a chance that we could get pushed back to later. we are super excited, and i think after two weeks of thinking that she was coming each day resulted in us wasted all of our anxiety/worries, so we are both feeling pretty great. i used each day as an excuse to add some forgotten item to my bag, which means we are prepared with mad libs, 4 different lip gloss shades, multiple coming home outfits for janie, real simple's january edition, and lots of extra contacts (perhaps the only practical thing in there). if you want something to pray about, you could pray that andy doesn't pass out 17 times, that we are able to get in and get things started, and that she arrives before my doctor's shift is over. and of course that she would be healthy and things would go smoothly. we can't wait for everyone to meet her and will keep you all posted. perhaps andy will even write his inaugural blog.

still waiting for a baby

on the 18th, my doctor sent us to winnie palmer for an ultrasound to be sure that janie wasn't getting too big (since i've been measuring two weeks ahead consistently). everything looked great and the doctor there estimated that she was weighing in at about 6 pounds 4 ounces, which they consider normal for where i was at that point. my doctor also thought it was average, but insinuated that she hoped or thought things were going to move along pretty quickly from that point. this is what she's looking like these days. we think she must be pretty bored and ready to eat some real food if she's resorted to nibbling on her toes.

over a week ago i started having kind of regular, but painless contractions, and as the week went on some other things started happening, which in all of the books we've read signal labor is right around the corner. we packed our bags and scrubbed the house top to bottom so that we were ready to go whenever the moment came. ten days later, it still hasn't happened. apparently, i am experiencing nearly every false labor symptom, and a few true labor ones, but no pain or discomfort. each time i start to have contractions, i tell myself that if i can sleep through them, it can't be labor. lucky for me, i am still able to sleep soundly through the entire night, no matter what the muscles in my stomach are doing. yesterday at the doctor there was no further progress really, but she did decide that if janie doesn't make her appearance by next week, they will induce me on the 6th (assuming there is availability at the hospital). we will see what happens between now and then, and promise to let you know as soon as she's here!

christmas fun

the holidays were so good to us. starting a few weeks ago, we managed to fill almost every day of our calendar with holiday parties, dinner with friends, and time with family.

we met luke for the first time when joel and lizzy were in town. it was quite a memorable experience. he came over decked out in the camo onesie that andy picked out a while back, and he took the title of first baby janie ever shared her toys with (which is good practice since they will be sharing many more things once the prearranged marriage is final). he even brought a photo from his first bath to be sure that as soon as she is seeing more than 12 inches away from her face, she will be able to look at her dresser and fall in love with luke. he is an awesome little guy, and joel and lizzy are really great parents. sometimes new parents enjoy sharing all of the negative stuff about the first few weeks, but joel and lizzy make parenting look easy and were able to put a positive spin on all the usual horror stories about labor, sleepless nights, and screaming babies. we are so glad to have friends like them.

our summit connect group just recently grew from eight people with two kids to twelve adults and five and two half kids, if you include the ones in bellies. we had our holiday dinner and white elephant gift exchange the week before christmas and i learned that our friends are wonderful cooks and even better gift givers. among the most coveted of gifts were a dog snuggie and an authentic russian fur hat.

i also attended my first cookie exchange at bri's house. while it was great to spend the evening surrounded by sweets and good friends, the preparations for the event were not so enjoyable, probably due to my missing ingredients in multiple recipes. in short, i made enough dough for 180 cookies and ended up with approximately 50 edible ones. bri has already decided that next year she's stepping things up and we will be required to bring 8 dozen cookies, so i'm starting to practice now.

i hosted my second annual gift wrapping party the next day, so a bunch of ladies came over and we wrapped christmas gifts and ate lots of dessert together. i was quite impressed by the wrapping skills of the majority of my friends, and was proud to have improved my bow making from last year. It became very clear to me that people with kids have much more challenging shaped items to wrap, santa should never use the same wrapping paper as mom and dad if you have observant children, ikea has surprisingly fine quality wrapping paper, i have no self control when it comes to chocolate mint brownies and the delicious pretzel/rolo/pecan treats that shannon left behind at my house, and i am so blessed with a great group of girl friends.

we wrapped up the week at the summit staff christmas party. i'm pretty sure that summit has claimed the greatest 40-something people to make up their staff. i truly don't think there is one staff member or significant other who isn't completely awesome. i am so grateful to have the opportunity to serve alongside of all of them, and to watch what god is doing in our community through summit year after year.

on christmas eve both of our families came into town and we went to christmas eve service. it was my family's first time at summit on christmas eve, and it surely was not a disappointment. a few years ago, we had just moved to connecticut and didn't really know of any churches in the area, so we randomly chose this cute little methodist church in the center of town to attend for christmas eve. well, there were about 20 people in attendance (they were all one family), the pews were about six inches deep (i thank god every sunday for the nice, cushioned seats at summit), the service lasted for 3 hours (and there was no sneaking out), and didn't really touch on the christmas story much at all. i was so glad that this year was the best music and christmas sermon i have ever heard, and was even happier that my entire family agreed.

christmas day was shared with both sides of our families, great friends, and an extreme abundance of food. i'm not sure who we thought we would be dining with, but we cooked enough to feed an entire football team. it was a good day.

progress

after months of hard work on everyone's part, a lot of (or a lack of) patience with furniture companies, and three amazing showers, janie's nursery is complete! we have been so blessed with great family and friends who have helped us to make all of this stuff come together. we spent most of last night moving tiny little outfits from one drawer to another and sitting in the super comfortable glider while admiring our work. i think that room is my favorite one in our house, which i hear is a good thing, as i'll probably be spending the majority of my time in there over the next few months.

i'm already finding that parents will do really crazy things for their kids. we would have had very little motivation to get that room done had it been for any other purpose than our sweet little girl. andy spent countless hours pulling rodent and termite poop infested insulation out of the walls, repairing wood floors that had holes big enough to reveal the dirt underneath our house, sawing/sanding/routing wood to frame doors and windows, and lots more. i, with the help of andy's mom, even learned how to sew (sort of) to make roman shades for the windows, something i thought i had no desire to ever learn. we both were excited to consider the new yellow minky dot glider our christmas present to each other, and can now easily pass up a dinner at our favorite restaurant if it means janie gets another cute little outfit, hairbow or toy. we already know, we are going to be in big trouble once she arrives.

here are a few pictures of the room!

here's a reminder of what it looked like before.

and after...

i'll leave you with a few great pieces of unsolicited advice from strangers, all of which start with a phrase similar to, "if i could give you one piece of advice, it would be...":

1. "buy a baby bjorn carrier so you can nurse the baby where ever you go" this was followed by an in depth description of exactly how you go about completing such a task while grocery shopping, doing dishes, or going for a walk.

2. "eat a lot of slippery foods if you want her to come early." this is not a joke, someone really said this and believed it to be true.

3. "don't let your kids out number you..they're vicious."

4. "get some blue things too, in case it's a boy."

5. and this, from husband and father of the year: "don't be expecting your kid to be the cutest thing you've ever seen...my baby was really funny looking until he was about 6 months old. i think that's why my wife had that after birth depression thing."