Cooing Graycen

Here she is in all of her cooing glory!!!! I crack up everytime I see it. I am waiting for that giggle though! I know it is coming any day now :)

3 Months Old!!!

Wow! Graycen is 3 months old already!!!!! She is doing so well. She is such a sweet and happy baby, we could not have asked for more. She presently weighs approximately 16 pounds (yikes!) which puts her above the 95th percentile for weight and at her last doctor's visit she was almost 26 inches long which puts her in the 85th percentile for height. She is already in six months clothing. She is really thriving developmentally. She is cooing and starting to babble some. She is starting to reach for objects and is very interactive and social. She loves to stand up on your lap and is really stronger that I thought a 3 month old would be. She is also finding her thumb more and more each day. I think she is going to be a bookworm too! When we read books at night, she stares intently at the pages. And I have heard the same thing from Joanie and Gigi when they read books to her during the day. I am going to go to the library to get some more books, so that we can spice up her repetoire a little bit (okay, so maybe it is so mommy doesn't get bored reading the same books over and over again). We have established a schedule and she is finally in her own room. My mom and Lenny were hounding me to get her in there since she was sooo squinched in her bassinet. And, I must admit, she sleeps much more soundly in her own room. Anyway, she goes to bed around 8:00 each night and awakens around 7:00 am. It is nice that Lenny and I can have some evening time to ourselves again. Oh yeah, one more update. We think Graycen officially has her first boyfriend. She saw Tad one night at Bernie and Michelle's and gave him the sweetest eyes I have ever seen...and what does Tad do? He blows her a kiss. It was the cutest thing ever! I think we might have to watch these two in a few years!

Mother's Day and the Zoo!

I hit my first milestone as a mommy, Mother's Day. I had a wonderful day. Lenny and Graycen gave me a day at the spa and a beautiful "G" necklace from Tiffany's! He also cooked a wonderful steak dinner. But, let's face it, everything he cooks is wonderful! But the dinner was especially wonderful that night. The weekend after Mother's Day we took Graycen for her first trip to the zoo. She had a blast! She was awake for most of the day, but fell asleep during the Swamp area. It figures, it is so dark in there anyway. I think she enjoyed the trees, plants, and greenery more than the animals themselves, but regardless, it was a fun day for all. Now that we are members of the Audubon Institute, we can go whenever we want! Hopfully we can get lots of visits in before it gets hot! We really do have a sweet girl on our hands and she looked especially precious for her first day at the zoo in her jumper and sun hat (thanks Joanie and Poppie!).

Graycen's Baptism

On May 4th, Graycen was baptized at St. Dominic's Church in Lakeview. Her godparents are Laura and Richie, our maid of honor and best man respectively. While Laura is fine with going with the title "Nanny", Richie would prefer to be called "The Don." Yep, you heard it right, "The Don." He figures since he is a godfather like Don Corleone, he can use the title too. So from here on out, Graycen has a Nanny and The Don. Her baptism day was wonderful. All of our friends and family came to the church and then to our house for a crawfish boil. The weather was beautiful too! We could not have asked for a better day.

Two Months Already!!

Wow, Lenee will be so proud of me. Two posts in as many weeks! Graycen is growing and growing. She is already 2 months old!!! We had her second doctor's appointment and she weighed in at 14 lbs and 23 3/4 inches. This puts her in the 95th percentile for weight and 85th for height. We have a big tomato on our hands. She is smiling all the time and is a very happy baby. She continues to sleep through the night, as she has done since she was 2 weeks old (I have no idea how we got so lucky!). She wakes up smiling and happy and ready to eat!!!!. Graycen spends her Mondays and Wednesdays with her grandmother, Joanie, and Tuesdays and Thursdays with my mom, her Gigi. Fridays are mommy and Gray days. Graycen continues to keep us on our toes by reaching developmental milestones before we expect her to. For example, she has rolled over a few times already. She is also holding herself up so well that she is able to play in the stationary jumper. Needless to say, she is doing great and continues to amaze us, her proud parents. I just can't get enough of her. I have included some pics here. You will notice her hair is shorter in some because she got her first haircut today. She was looking a little straggly and was pulling her hair, so we decided it was time. Don't worry, we saved the first lock :)

Coming soon......Graycen's Baptism featuring "The DON."

She's Here!!!

Okay, let me start off by saying that I am a terrible blogger. My hope is to fully redeem myself by bringing everyone up-to-date and filling you in on all the milestones we have reached thus far, at 2 months old.
Let's begin with Graycen's birth. As some of you know, during the last few weeks of prgenancy, I was dialated maybe a centimeter and Graycen was still very high. I cam home from most appointments in tears, thinking that she might never come. At week 40, the doctor still couldn't feel her head....so we decided to induce, which was fine with me!
On Sunday, Feb 17., Lenny and I checked into Lakeside hospital to begin the induction. What a surreal experience it is knowing that you are coming to one place as a couple and leaving as a family. An induction is a very simple process, step 1 - insert suppository, step 2 - start pitocin drip, step 3 - break water. We began the process around 9:00 pm and by 2:00 am I started having contractions. Let me just say that contractions are nothing like I thought they would be. They are wayyy worse. And for those who say that laying on a tennis ball will help to relieve "back labor" they are full of it. By 7:00 am, I was questioning whether or not I should have the epidural (the questions was not whether or not but rather when). I opted not to and waited instead for my water to break. The doctor came in at 10:00 am and broke my water. By this time, I was dialated to about 5 cms, but Graycen was still sooooo high. We started talking about a c-section but decided to wait to see if I progressed anymore.
Once my water broke, the contractions were out of control. My hat is off ( and my psychologist hat is put on) for anyone who would choose to go through this without any meds. Anyway, I soon asked for the epidural and soon after a doctor, nurse, and gaggle of residents came in. The doctor administered the epidural, but "missed" and hit a capillary, so he had to do it again. Let me just say that when you are in sooo much pain that you need an epidural, you don't even care that they missed....you just want the next one to work. Well guess what, it did....for about 1/2 hour. A half-hour after the epidural, I began to have feeling and movement throughout my left side. I was continuing to labor and in lots of pain. I continued to tell the nurse that something was wrong and that I could feel my left side, so they just kept coming in and refilling the epidural with more meds. I think I had 7 total refills in the same line. But I could still feel everything.
While still feeling labor pains, and perhaps because I was feeling it, I knew the time to push had come. As the nurse said, when you feel like you are about to have a house come out of your butt, you are ready. That is excatly how I felt. The nurse came in, and soon after the doctor, and we started to push. This was at about 4:30 pm. Funny thing, everytime I would push, I would feel (and Lenny would see) Graycen's little butt squirm back up. She was definitely not coming that way, so we opted for the c-section.
Within minutes the nurse anestithist (sp?) came into prep me for surgery. I complained again about the epidural and she said 'I knew that they didn't do it right'. I still can't believe I went nearly 7 hours with an epidural that wasn't working. So for the third time, the epidural catheter was placed in my spine. This time I felt nothing. Thank goodness. However, because of all the medicine I was given, I was shaking like a leaf. Boy, I must have looked a mess. Anyway, I was wheeled into the operating room, and although I was beyond exhausted at this point, I was thrilled knowing I was about to meet my daughter. Within minutes, the doctor pulled Graycen out and held her over my head. Boy...she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. It still takes my breathe away!
After I was all stitched up and brought back to the room, Graycen was brought in for our first 'proper' meeting. She was completely alert and awake and holding her head up! I counted all of her little fingers and all of her little toes (10 each...so we are good). But the thing that amazed me most...you guessed it...THAT HAIR! My child was born with a head full of long black hair. I guess that heartburn was for a reason! The rest of the evening is kind of a blur, probably due to exhaustion and meds, but I know that I rested well that night with the knowledge that I had finally met my daughter.

36 weeks and counting!!!!

We are in the home stretch that is for sure!!!! At my last appointment we found out that Graycen weighs about 7 pounds so she is definitely getting ready. We have finished her nursery (and all the other remodeling issues we had) and are now just waiting to meet her. Her are some pics of her nursery for you to see!