illness

There is nothing that hurts a parent's heart more than a sick child for whom there is not much you can do.  Ben seems to have gotten a stomach bug from somewhere, so we have been contending with the, uh..., consequences of said virus all day.  He has not been actively sick all day, but the first time was all over me, the recliner in his room, his bed, and the floor and it had been an all day long process to try to get the chair back in decent condition. BTW: I would love some mom cleaning tips for future incidents!  Anyway, I will keep him home from church tomorrow with hopes that he will be back to normal quickly!

Besides the obvious yucky consequences of some illnesses my child can experience, it just makes me so sad to hear him cry and not know what's wrong or, like he can now, to actually identity what hurts and communicate that to me, and I not really be able to do anything about it.  With all that said, I am grateful that all I have had to experience as a parent has been colds, ear infections, stomach bugs, and a couple of seizures.  Things could easily be worse and I am thankful to God for Ben's general good health.

discipline

Ben's:  Last week was horrible on the behavior scale for my little man.  If a rule could be broken or a line crossed (or as Jeff would say, "dove over head first") then Ben did it.  It was just one of those weeks where you really wonder why you ever wanted to be a parent.  After lots of discipline, hugs, and encouragement we survived to turn the leaf of a fantastic week.  Ben has been great at school this week and has been pretty good a home too!  Yay!  I thank God for weeks like this.  They are a like a refreshingly cool breeze in an otherwise hellashious time in our lives I like to call toddlerhood. Its also good to be reminded that the creature I am raising is actually a boy - and my boy at that - and that I love him and am proud of him.  I'm sure Ben enjoys the reminder that I am his mom and not screaming banshee.

Jeff's: Jeff is working like a madman and I am so proud of him.  He is basically teaching 7 classes, about to begin teaching a Sunday School class at church on Tim Keller's book The Reason For God (check it out, it's great!), is doing a super job taking care of me and Ben, is finishing his dissertation and preparing for his defense on Oct 21st, and on top of all that he in going to the gym three days a week.  Now that is some discipline.

Mine:  I pretty sure that am lacking in this area.  My kitchen is a mess, I have about 2 months worth of clean laundry piled on the guest bed waiting to be dealt with, I have a to do list that is about 3 miles long and all I do is read.  I am totally obsessed with the Bodie Theone books that Amy lent me and I just can't put them down!  They are super great though and I suppose I will eventually finish reading them!  So, thanks Amy.  At least I have good book reading discipline. :-)

life

We had a great time in NOLA over Labor day weekend.  Jonah is adorable and Ted and Kim are amazing parents.  Ben held Jonah before we left that Monday and it was so cute!  Made me long for a little bundle of our own that he could hold more often...

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I am so busy with one thing or another these days that I can't even think about stuff to blog about.  Sad, huh?  Church has been insanely busy.  PresWIC is also off the hook.  Jeff's work schedule is ridiculous, but he is doing his best to be super hubby and super dad when he can be here.  :-)

When I can get one coherent thought together, I will attempt to come back and let you all in on it!

potty training success & other stuff too!

I feel that even as I type this I should be knocking on wood, but I am going to type it anyway.  I think Ben is very successfully potty trained!  We have gone over a week with no accidents of any kind, and he generally takes himself to the potty and handles the whole procedure (expect wiping) without help!  He is doing so great!  Yay for my BIG boy! :-)  And yay for me and Jeff having a significantly reduced role in Ben's pooping life. :-) lol!  The next big test will come this Friday when we drive 8 hours to New Orleans.  I hope we don't have to stop every hour for him to potty.  On the other side, I really hope he has no accidents!!  We shall see....

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I am super excited about the Central Georgia and Savannah River PresWIC Retreat this November in Macon, GA.  Susan Hunt is going to be our speaker and we could not be more thrilled!

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The reason we are going to NOLA this weekend is to see our new nephew and Ben's cousin for the first time since he was born in July!  We are all super excited to meet him and to see Uncle Ted and Aunt Kim!  Jonah is being baptized on Sunday and it so great that we will be able to be there for that special time and that we will also be a part of promising to help Ted and Kim raise Jonah in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.  So sweet!  I cannot wait to get there!! :-)

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Pillars Of The Earth by Ken Follett is an excellent book and Starz just finished airing their 8 episode miniseries adaptation.  It was totally awesome and if you have the chance, you need to a) read the book and b) watch the Starz minseries.  Follett wrote a follow up to the book called World Without End and it is excellent as well.  I hear Starz might be making it into a miniseries too and I cannot wait!!

i love my chiropractor

If you have never been to a chiropractor before, all I have to say to you is: "Go!"  I love it.  I could totally become an adjustment addict.  There is something very satisfying about hearing your spine pop and creak as everything gets put back where it belongs and I always feel like I just took the best nap ever when I get up off the table.  I feel rejuvenated and energized and just plain good.  It is a-w-e-s-o-m-e!  On top of that, they are also teaching me lots of stretches and strengthening exercises to keep my spine in good shape - BONUS!  So, if you live in the Tifton area - go see Dr. Byrnes as Slocum Chiropractic.  You will not regret it.

potty training

So, we have been potty training Ben for nearly 2 weeks now.  We seem to have the pee under control.  Other than the occasional accident, all is well there.  The poop, however, is another story.  We have had two successful experiences wherein said poop was successfully deposited into the potty.  Since then Ben has pooed in his underwear every day.  I am sick of poop.  I don't want to see it, smell, touch it, or have to clean loads of it out of my sons underwear anymore!  With that said, I have no good ideas as to how to get him to poop in the potty.  Other than being lucky enough to catch him in the act of running to another room as he tries to "poop in private" and redirecting him to the potty I have no clue what to do.  Fellow mommies & daddies - any tips?

back troubles

So I think I tweaked my back again yesterday while I was squatting in a bathroom stall at Chick-fil-a trying to help Ben get his undies and shorts back on. :-(   I am back full force with my back stretches and exercises and me and my ice pack will prevail!

dinner

So I made a Pampered Chef salad recipe for dinner - the Cajun Chicken Salad.  It is awesome!  It has cajuny spiced chicken breast atop a bed of greens and squash and grape tomatoes with homemade sweet cajun toasted pecans and some amazing ranch dressing on the side.  What is not to love, right? :-)  Jeff enjoyed it and what I could eat of it was good too.  I was totally bummed and dismayed after I finished making dinner to sit down at the table and realize I had virtually no appetite!  I forced my self to eat some anyway, but dang!  Have you ever done that?  Made a fantastic dinner and then just not want to eat it?!  Exasperating!

Back on the blogging wagon

After rereading my old posts, I have decided that it's nice to have something to come back to that helps me remember, so I am going to try to post stuff again every once in a while.

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Ben, who is now 3, started back to preschool on Monday.  As he has before, he loves it!  Potty training is going pretty well, too!  We are averaging an accident every 2-3 days, so that is not too bad considering we have only been at it for a little over a week!  Poop is gross and I cannot wait until I never have to deal with his poop again! :-)  With that said, it is amazing to me how quickly (and sometimes really slowly - but only other moms will get this) he has grown up!  I sure do love that boy.

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I got to hang out with my pal Erin for a couple of hours tonight.  It was really nice.  I love her and am just grieving for what her family is dealing with right now.

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Well, I better go to bed.  Ben will be hopping on me in the blink of an eye for my morning wake-up call!

hello again!

Well, for those of you who keep up with my husband's blog, you know that on April 9 I gave birth to Benjamin Lang via c-section. It was quite an experience. We went to the hospital at 6 am that Monday morning for the doctors to induce me. They got all the meds going quickly and I was actually already having contractions before they even started so things were looking good. Around 9 am Dr. Murthy broke my water and that's when the contractions became more painful, but nothing I couldn't handle. I eventually got some pain meds through my IV and they completely knocked me out. From that point forward I was in and out of it and don't really remember a whole lot of pain or anything like that. I do remember, however, that it took the anesthesiologist THREE tries to get my epidural in and he took a phone call in the middle of it all...that was not fun and Jeff was seriously peeved. Then, because after you get an epi you can no longer walk, I had to get a catheter....that took a lot of tries also. Yuck.


Anyway, I dialated to 4 centimeters and then my body decided that was all it wanted to do. At 8:30 p.m., after being in labor for 14 hours, Dr. Murthy decided a c-section was my best bet. I agreed because at that point I was just ready to do something different. It was scary. The anesthesiologist came back and re-upped my epi. Jeff had to put scrubs on some scrubs and I think he was even more scared than I was. I heard later that the moms (mine and Jeff's) were in the lobby crying and calling family and just trying to think positive.

They wheeled me down to the operating room and things started quickly. Ben was born at 9:07 p.m. He weighed 7lbs 5oz and was 20 inches long. He was adorable.




Soon after I was sewn up and back in my room. I had the shakes from the epi for hours and that was horrible, but not unbearable. They brought Ben in around 11 p.m. for me to ty to breastfeed him, but I had no idea what to do and neither did he. Ben spent that night in the nursery while Jeff and I tried to sleep in my room.

We went home on Friday. It was scary to go home but I was healing great and walking well and Ben was doing good too!




Well, I am not sure I can catch you up on everything that has happened in the last 4 months, but I can say that Ben has been a wonderful baby. I ended up not being able to breastfeed (Ben kept losing weight on my milk), but he is thriving on fomula, so we are okay with that. At his 4 month doctors visit 2 weeks ago, Ben weighed 16 1/2 lbs and was 25 1/2 inches long. He is not little anymore! He sleeps like a champ (8 1/2 - 10 hours a night!). Jeff and I both truly appreciate that! :-)

induction, labor, baby...oh my!

So, yesterday my doc decided to induce me on Monday!!! Jeff and I will head to the hospital by 6am Monday morning, April 9. Baby Ben weighs about 8 lbs right now according to yesterday's ultrasound and since I am already dialated 1cm and am 50% effaced with a soft cervix, she decided to go ahead with an induction. We don't want him to get too big and at this stage babies gain about 1/2 lb a week. And also, his head was measuring about 1.5 weeks ahead, so we want to go ahead and get that thing outta there!! :-) When the doc told us that it would be Monday, I thought Jeff was gonna pass out! But he held it together. :-)

Anyway, I was planning on working through today, but with this new development, yesterday was my last day. :-( I am gonna miss working at UGA and in Student Affairs very much, but I will mostly miss my wonderful, awesome friend and boss, Jan. She has been such a blessing to me. Thankfully, she will be coming to the hospital on Monday to help me and Jeff. :-) She just had a baby in Novemebr, so she has fresh memories of how all this works.... She'll be there to hold both of our hands!

Well, as soon as we have a baby, I will tell you all about him and post his pics for the world to see!

Baby Days Are Coming Soon ...

On Saturday, I'll be 36 weeks. Even though 37 weeks is technically considered "full term," at this point, Benjamin can come at any time.

I had a baby shower at work today and it was totally and completely awesome. Jeff came and that was super fun because this is the only baby shower that he'll be able to attend. We were blessed to recieve a lot of really big, expensive items such as our stroller, our monitors, a boppy, and a cute personalized onsie that says "Made by Heather and Jeff in Athens, Georgia" or something like that. It's very cute. My boss Jan was so sweet to plan and execute all of this.

I have another shower on Sunday from some of the ladies from my church, and I think that it will be fun and intimate. I'm really looking forward to it.

I started putting all of Benjamin's stuff away today when I got home from the shower and Scout was completely overwhelmed with new things to sniff and explore. She may be jealous of Benjamin's growing stash of belongings. But, she'll be a good big doggie sister. I just know it.

Jeff feels poopy because he has a cold as well as a bad case of hay fever. So I am trying to take care of him so his pouty bottom lip will go back in :-) Right now, he's my baby to take care of. I'm happy to lo0k after him because he's been doing such a good job of looking after me.

The house hunting saga has been a long and arduous trial. We put an offer in on a home that was almost immediately taken off the market by the owner. We've not put a second offer in on a different home and hope to hear something positive early next week. We had no idea that finding a home to buy would be so labor intensive. Please keep us in your prayers.

Well, I think that's it for now. I'll try not to be so lax in updating my little spot on the web. But once Benjamin Lang Newberry makes his appearance, there are no guarantees.

due date change

So the doc decided to move my due date forward to April 21 -- my original due date and coincidentally the date I was due to be born on as well! With the change of due date that means Ben is only measuring about 1 week and a few days ahead, so that's not so abnormal or scary. :-)

Jeff and I completed our Childbirth class and the Baby Basics class and just have one more left: Breastfeeding 101. I think we learned a lot. We got to take a tour of the Family Birthing Unit (or whatever fancy name they call it!). It is very nice. This is an exciting time and its so hard not think 24/7 about Ben and what having him (in all senses of the phrase - labor, delivery, bringing him home, living with a newborn day-to-day, etc.) is going to be like. I am so glad that we will have family and friends around to help us after Ben is born.

We have two more baby showers coming up - one is being thrown at work, and one by some friends from our church here in Athens. I am sure they will both be great!

Anyway, sorry if you wanted to learn about things other then the baby...there simply isn't anything else in my head!! :-)

lots of love for lots of baby

Well, Ben is a big baby. We had an ultrasound on Tuesday (28wks 5 days) that confirmed that he is still growing ahead of schedule...2 weeks and 2 days ahead to be exact. They estimated that he weighs about 3lbs 11 oz right now which puts him in the 81st percentile...he should weigh about 2lbs 10oz. Dr. Rosemond thought that by the time we get to 37 wks Benjamin will be over the 90th percentile. If that is the case, then they may want to induce me to ensure that he does not get too big. I go back for another ultrasound on April 5 to determine how big Ben has gotten and whether or not we need to do anything to bring about labor.

In anycase, we got some great shots of little Ben that we want to share!

Ben's face and arm - 3d/4d

Ben's foot - 2d

Ben's profile (he looks like he is laying on his back with his hand over his head) - 2d

Enjoy!!! :-)

healthy after all

My Doctor's office called yesterdy to say that I don't have Gestational Diabetes! Yay!!!!!! What a load off my mind! Here are my numbers vs what they needed to be under:

Fasting/75/105 or less
1 Hour/141/190 or less
2 Hour/117/165 or less
3 Hour/91/145 or less

:-) Yay for me!!!!

In other news, Jeff and I bought a new bed! A king size Sealy Posturepedic with a pillow top. It is awesome and we can't wait to get it. It will be delivered on Wednesday! We are very excited for that first night's sleep. Now we have to buy some more king size sheets. We have one set right now and actually the quilt we bought over a year ago is also king sized because we knew that we eventually wanted to get a king size bed. :-) I'll let you all know how well it sleeps for a full-night!

hello there

My state of mind is much improved today compared to my last post and even to how I was feeling yesterday. I was supposed to take the 3 hour gestational diabetes test today (I failed the 1 hour test by 1 point!). However, because of the winter weather forcast which included sleet and freezing rain, my doc's office called yesterday to move my appointment to next Tuesday. If I do have it, which is not the end of the world but won't be fun either, then I will likely see a nutritionist who will establish a new diet for me...

Anywho, things are trucking right along with the rest of my pregnancy. I am 26 weeks today and I have been feeling Benjamin move quite alot in the last few days. I think he is getting stronger and starting to get more cramped in there! Jeff has even felt him kick on three different occasions! Its been pretty cool. The only concern right now is that Ben may be a ginormous baby! When we had our 20 wk ultrasound he was measuring almost 2 weeks ahead. So...we have to have another ultrasound on Feb 6 to find out if he is still growing at that rate or if he just hit a growth spurt sooner than the average baby. If he is still as large, my docs may consider adjusting my due date. However, biologically speaking, I don't see how they could move it ahead of April 21, but we'll see!!

I also feel as if I have neglected to post some of Ben ultrasound pics for you all, so here you go!

Ben @ 8 weeks (2D)

Ben @ 8 wks (3/4D)

Ben @ 19wks 6days (3/4D)

Ben @ 19wks 6days (2D)

I will post again soon! Y'all hang onto your horses until then! :-)

tired and worried

I got very little sleep last night as a result of being unable to get comfortable and not being able to turn my brain off. I finally moved to the couch at about 5am and got some sleep then. I was (and continue to) worrying about money, Ben, buying/settling into a home, moving, my pregnancy, and money (again!). I am trying not to stress too much, cause that will just make things worse. Still, it is difficult to stop once you get started.

It has been a slow day here at work. I have gotten a lot done, which is nice. Jan, my boss, will be back from maternity leave next week. it will be nice to have her around again!

At this moment, Jeff is sitting in the very first day of his very last course. I hope that it is going well!

a new year

Happy 2007 everbody!

This year promises to be a memorable one for our little fam. We hope to buy a house, have a baby, perhaps replace my car, and move back to Tifton all by the end of May. In the mean time I will continue working and making baby Benjamin while Jeff will be finishing up his final classes, studying for a Portugese reading comprehension/translation test, and reading/studying for his Comprehensive Exams! Whew! What a semester this will be!!

I hope that you all have a great year and that it will not be near as hectic as our year is shaping up to be! :-)

its the holiday season

We are looking forward to Christmas this year...our last Christmas without the pitter patter of kiddy feet (we will, of course, continue to enjoy the pitter patter of Scout's feet!). It is kind of crazy to think about, really. I wish we could see more family and friends this year. Ted and Kim are coming after Chirstmas, so we are excited to see them. I am sure Ted will be giving my stomach noogies in a continuing effort to perfect his technique. :-)

Baby Benjamin seems to be growing right along. I still haven't felt a lot of movement, but I think that, just maybe, I have felt some...its so hard to tell what it is. I am sure that as he gets stronger I will long for the days when I could not feel him! :-) He is supposedly about 10.5 inches long now and weighs 3/4 lb. -- who really knows though. His legs looked mighty long in his ultrasound so I would bet he's a tad longer at this point.

it's a...

BOY!!!!!!!

We found at on Wednesday that we will be welcoming Benjamin Lang into the world this coming April and we are very excited!

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.