Who has a savings account?

This guy.

Thanks, Grandma Great!

Baby Leroy

Now that we've had some time to recover and settle into a semi-schedule, I thought I'd post some of my favorite pictures from the first three weeks.

This is the first day we came home. Look, his eyes are open!

Because he was still a little jaundiced, we went out into the shade to get some indirect UV rays.  He's so adorable and tiny!

This little orange jacket is so cute!  And pretty much new because it only fits babies for a short period of time.

Though he spends most of his time asleep, sometimes he wakes up and looks around.

And a happy face:

His Auntie Nat gave him this onesie.  Trying to butter him up already, I guess.

His auntie Neoma gave him a little pompadour like his daddy's.

And sometimes he just likes to kick back and relax.

Apparently his first finger is delicious.

My working husband

Hollis got his work shirts in!  He looks so good in them.

And his name is embroidered on all of them!

Going Home!

We got to go home on Friday! We put Leroy in his carseat for the first time.  He is so little!

It was quite funny - he was disgruntled to be put in a car seat.

We had a baby!

So last Saturday Hollis and I had our Labor and Delivery prep class.  During the class, at the beginning of the section about pre-term labor, I started to feel very uncomfortable and kept getting up to try to alleviate my pain.  It was a few more hours before I started to consider that I was actually in labor (only after my sister-in-laws informed me that I was).  I called my OB and we met at the hospital.  Yep.  In labor, having contractions every 2 minutes.  And only 35 weeks along.

So I got a shot of tributylene and a pill of nifedipine to try and halt the labor.  While my contractions lessened in intensity, I kept having them.  My OB went back and looked at my first ultrasound information and decided my due date could be adjusted from September 1 to August 24.  So like magic I was 36 weeks along.  But full term isn't until 37 weeks so we were still trying to stop the labor.  I got booked into the hospital on Saturday (July 28).  I was at 3.5 cm and 100% effaced, but I stopped progressing on Saturday night.  I never stopped having contractions, but I didn't progress after Saturday, so I was released on Tuesday on bed rest.  I had to keep taking the nifedipine and stay in bed as much as possible until the following Monday.  Our baby had other plans.

I had been home about 24 hours when my water broke (about 2:15 PM).  Naturally, the bag of waters broke 15 minutes after I had taken a nifedipine (a contraction blocking pill).  So I assumed that it would be a while before my contractions got painful again (instead of uncomfortable and somewhat painful that they had been since Saturday).  I called Hollis and Carol (my sister-in-law/doula) and Liz drove me to the hospital.  When I got to the hospital I was at 5 cm.

As soon as everyone got there, my labor really kicked in.  I was planning on using the jacuzzi tub in my room to alleviate pain while I was laboring, but I actually never had time.  The contractions came closer and closer - I was getting a 2 minute break in between each one, max.  Then I felt like I wasn't really getting any break.  The main thought I remember having was "they lied to me!" because I had been told about how labor is long and how you get time between contractions to rest.  And I wasn't getting any break!  But it was okay and at 6:58 PM our little bundle of baby was born.

The tired mama:

Excited and hungry papa:

And our ecstatic doula and baby's aunt:

32 Weeks

We visited my parents and I stayed for a week while Hollis went back to Seattle to start work.  My mom took me to the store and bought me some NEW MATERNITY CLOTHES! I've been wearing the same five outfits for months.  And I am SO EXCITED to have new clothes.  Especially these stylish dresses.  (By the way, Ross is the best store for maternity clothes!)

 

And this is a shot of my belly in another new dress.  Oh cute baby bump!  I love it now that I have such cute clothes!

Demolition Derby

Every year on Independence Day, there is a Demolition Derby in Waterville, about 40 minutes from Wenatchee. Brian and I went this year and it was awesome!

Look, we are having so much fun!!!

They had lap races with some heavy bumping, followed by some figure eight races with heavy hitting. It all ended up with the actual demolition derby with some serious smashing. It was most excellent. There was almost a roll over, but before the one smashing into him could flip the car, he broke his flag (signifying he was out of the competition). My favorite car was a ghostbuster style station wagon decked out in Spam decor.

New car, new job

Hollis and I found our new car the day after we arrived back in the US. It was just a touch higher than our goal spending, but it was also a touch better than we anticipated.

Meet our new Toyota Corolla:

We promptly detailed the car inside and out. The above picture shows one head light cleaned up and the other still foggy. We like this car a lot. It also happens to look nearly identical to our brother-in-law's car.

Also, the day after purchasing our car, Hollis landed a job! It's at Rodda Paint. He got the job the same day he interviewed for it. So awesome! Things are falling into place quickly for us. I thank our Heavenly Father for the blessing of Hollis finding work so quickly. Hooray!