Round Rock House Update

I have continued to kind of work on the Round Rock house but at a slower pace. Next week, I hope to pass inspection and have the HVAC working!! I have posted a few pics below.


Well worth the time it took me to refinish these! 


Parlour Double Sided Fireplace 


Master Bath 


Kitchen 

Maternity Leave??

It's funny - I had the misguided notion that I would have time to do things while on maternity leave. But as anyone with children knows, it takes four times longer to do anything once you have a child. Mind you, it is completely worth it. Maybe it takes so long because I still just stare at her and am amazed that she belongs to me.

She has proven to be a wonderful baby, knock on wood, much to my sister's dismay. She sleeps 4 (today almost 5) hour stretches and wakes for about an hour in between. I can't say that she is an angel for the hour she is awake. Unless she is attached to me, she is not a happy camper. But again, I remind myself that you can't spoil a newborn. And she does have a set of lungs on her.

Tonight is officially my second night with just me and Addison. My mom unofficially moved out yesterday. She decided I was self-sufficient and although that may be true, we enjoyed the company. And my sister is in town staying at her house and I guess I have to share.

We have had a busy week full out outings and appointments. Addison also had her 3 week appointment and is right at where she should be - she now weights 6 lbs. 11 oz and still is 19 3/4" long. We went for her newborn pictures in San Antonio, went on two shopping trips, and went to a baby shower for her today.

We have also been interviewing nannies and trying to figure out what we are going to do for childcare. We met with someone on Friday that we really liked but my mom did not care for her. Mom has been sitting in on the interviews with me as it always helps to have a second opinion. She decided Friday that the nanny was too much like her and did not like that someone might be taking her place. It did not help that the nanny often is called "Nana" by her families which is what my mom is called by her grandchildren. Of course no one could replace my mom, but I have used the opportunity to try to persuade her that she should watch Addison a few days a week. We'll see how far that gets me.

I was able to talk to Doug earlier this week and I feel like I can start counting down the days. With his arrival date home getting closer and closer, I am getting more and more anxious which makes the days go by slower. I think August will be a long month for both of us and hopefully September will fly by!

Update from Iraq

Talked to Doug today and all is well. Hot, but well. It hit 132 degrees yesterday. Makes Austin seem chilly! Just checked the weather in Baghdad and it was 115. Wonder why it is 20 degrees warmer near Hit?

He sends his thanks for all of the congrats, well wishes and packages! If he has not emailed you back, it may take a few weeks. His internet access is touch and go and when he is able to use it, they are restricted to 30 minutes. Hard to believe we are almost at the point where we can say I'll see you in less than 60 days!

2 weeks and still alive!

Addison and I have survived her first two weeks of life in the real world. So far, I have been blessed with a good baby. She sleeps anywhere from 15 minutes to 4 1/2 hours. She is a bit fussy when she is awake unless she is eating which she is very fond of - she definitely takes after her dad. I keep re-reading the section in my Baby 411 book that says "you can't spoil a newborn." Makes me feel less guilty about picking her up all of the time, sleeping with her in my bed, and basically doing whatever she wants me to do.

We have had a very eventful week. I came home from the hospital on Thursday of last week. The entire in-law crew came up on Saturday. Between them and my sister, they turned my nursery around and it looks amazing. My sister-in-law even drove all the way from Arkansas just to spend 24 hours with Addison and paint. My mom has moved in which has been wonderful. I don't know how people do this without family.

Unfortunately this week I have also had to work full time from home. I was not ready to hand over my caseload when I had Addison, so I am playing catch up and hope to officially start my maternity leave next week. Work has been wonderful about letting me brake up my leave so that I can take 6 weeks off now, work full time for 4 weeks and take 6 weeks off when Doug comes home.

We have had many firsts this past week - the first time in my bed, first time (and probably last) in her cradle, the first time in her rocker chair, her first outing, etc. One of her big firsts was when my mom and I took her out in her new Ironman jogger stroller for the first time yesterday (Doug would not let us get anything other than the Ironman version). She loves it - falls right to sleep and sleeps the entire way. The bumpier the ride the better it seems. And she has had her first bath without her umbilical cord which fell off when she was 11 days old - I think she is already advanced.

We have also had a few lasts these past two weeks. After sending Addison's pictures to her daddy, he commented that although he realizes he will have no say in what she wears now or ever, he had to put his foot down on headbands. Specifically, the headband she wore home from the hospital. So we just won't send those pictures to him anymore. Or maybe all pictures I send she should wear one. Hmmmm.....

Having a girl, opposed to the boy I was sure I was having, was surprisingly easy to get used to. I really could stare at her all day long. She makes the sweetest noises when she sleeps and dreams about who knows what. So far I have to say that motherhood is so much more than I could ever imagine. I am trying to record as much as possible and send cds to Doug, as I hate that he is missing out on any of this. I have told Addison that she is not allowed to grow at all at least until he comes home. Something tells me she is not going to listen.....

I have attached a few pics of her from the last two weeks.


Delivery Day 


Painting the nursery 


Painting the nursery 


Fast Asleep 

36 weeks!

Thought I would post my last "Nugget in the womb picture." This is me at 36 weeks. My mom took the picture between contractions on our way out the door to the hospital. I managed to pack on 13 extra inches around my waistline with this little girl! Even had someone ask me on the running trail if I was having twins. Good thing she came 4 weeks early!


On our way to the hospital! 


Gotta Go! 

The Most Beautiful Thing

I am staring at the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. She weighs 6 lbs. 7 oz, is 19 3/4” long, 36 weeks old, and is perfect. Her name is Addison James Gardner and she was born on July 10, 2005. Addy or Addie or Addi (not yet decided) for short and James was my great grandfather’s name. She has a very full head of dark hair and I think looks much like her daddy. And yes, I did say she.

Today is our first day at home. We left the hospital this morning and have had quite a week. Unfortunately, internet access was limited at the hospital so I have not been able to post the events leading to and her arrival until now.

As you know she made and attempt to join us at 34 weeks of age and I was put on meds to stop my contractions until I hit 36 weeks, which was on 7/7/05. I had my doc apt on Thursday and was taken off of the meds. Given that I was not dialated, I thought she would come in a couple of weeks, but did worry that it might be when my doctor was away on vacation. My contractions that I had been having really did not change when I stopped taking the medication. Saturday morning, I took Nugget and Uno (our 2 year old black lab) to the trail to run, as my doctor had given me permission to go back to my usual routine. We had a nice run around the lake, took Uno to the vet, and went home to waited for a call from Doug. Two days prior, I decided that I should go ahead and buy a webcam and camcorder for Nugget’s big day and figure out how to use it. Doug was supposed to call between 12 and 3 to test the webcam and see if we could get it to work. I had a guy from Best Buy coming over Saturday night to give me a tutorial on all of the fancy features of the camcorder and how to download it onto a CD to send to Doug after delivery. Three o’clock came and went and I thought maybe Doug forgot today was Saturday, as days are hard to keep track of there. I called my mom and sister to meet me at 4:00 at the nail place so we could all get a pedicure – a new monthly tradition we started last month. Around 5:30, after my toes were all pretty, my mom mentioned that I had not packed a bag for the hospital and we agreed that we’d meet Monday or Tuesday at my house and get that together. I went to run a couple of errands – I had a big training event at Gymboree on Sunday that we were hosting for several other Gymboree sites. Went to SAMS to buy lunch for Sunday and as I started to walk to the store, I had the sensation that my water just broke! No, no, I thought – I am just imagining things. Decided it was a good idea to just go to the bathroom before I started shopping and uh, I reconsidered whether that was such a good idea. I opted to drive home, called mom and asked her if she could come over now to help me pack my bag. I needed it before Monday. Once I got home, there was no question – my water had broken and Nugget was on the way. Fortunately, I had time to get a bag packed, learn how to turn on the camcorder and hit record, and I emailed Doug to tell him to call me as soon as he possibly could. I tried sending out a Red Cross message to him too and hoped that he would be able to check his email before Nugget was born.

My mom and I arrived at the hospital at 8:00. Excited, nervous, sad, happy, not ready, and anxious. My doctor was already there, which brought me great comfort. The contractions were fairly strong by now, but unfortunately I was not dialated at all. Epidurals are not allowed unless you are at least 3-4 cm dialated. My doc started me on petosin which is supposed to speed up labor and dialation, and also makes your contractions more frequent and stronger. Not overly fond of that idea but not much choice. Also unfortunate for me is that I discovered with respect for labor, I take after my mother. It is very slow. It took me about 11 hours to get to 4 cm and it was not pretty. My mom was a great coach and helped me through the wall climbing contractions (which is a nice way to describe them). Different breathing patterns I learned through sports and prenatal classes were my crutch. But what made the biggest difference was knowing that Doug was going to call and that we were going to have a family very soon. Doug had received my email and called around midnight. The reception was horrible, so we decided that if he called in an hour, there might be some progress to report and maybe we could hear better. The reception did not improve but he was able to call every hour. Not very eventful on his end – I gave reports and often made him sit through my, not so sexy, heavy breathing. He tried to breath with me a few times, which I of course took as him being a smart ass and told him that I could still physically hurt him in some way shape or form. No name calling though. I watched the clock as it rounded each hour and waited for him to call. At the blessed 5:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, when I reached 4 cm, I was given an epidural. Doug called at 6:00 and I was feeling much better, although I could not feel a thing, including the slightest hint of a contraction. He was going to wait a couple of hours before he called again so that I could get a bit of sleep before it was time to go. By 6:30-7:00 I was fully dialated. I had started to push but Nugget’s heart rate kept taking nose dives. After about 30 minutes of this, my doctor came in with the news that we were going to have to go in for surgery immediately. C-section was not something that I had wanted to do and I had already gone through the hard part of labor, but my doctor was worried, my mom was worried, and I was worried. I was rolled into surgery around 7:45-8:00 and the anesthesia was increased. I apparently am sensitive to drugs, as the amount of anesthesia took over me. I was still conscious but could not move any part of my body. I am grateful that I was alert enough to hear my doctor at 8:21 say that I had a healthy baby GIRL!! Shock and emotion overwhelmed me and I cried like I have not cried since I kissed my husband good-bye at the airport. My mom was crying with video camera in hand – we think she was filming Nugget’s first few minutes in this world. Doug called about 5 minutes after she was born and my mom answered the phone. I remember the phone ringing but wasn’t able to talk. My mom wanted to wait until I could tell Doug myself, but he heard Addison having her first good cry and mom told him he that he had a beautiful daughter. I passed out shortly after that while Nugget was cleaned up and my parents and Doug’s parents were able to look over our little girl.

Once I woke up, I still was not able to move my arms for several hours, but the nurses were able to place Addison along side me and allowed her to eat and spend a bit of time next to me. While I still could not feel a thing, it was an overwhelming moment that I will never forget.

We spent 5 days in the hospital. With the labor, surgery, and a mishap with my epidural – they wanted to keep me a few extra days. Today we are home. Addison is trying to figure out what “home” is. She is a wonderful sleeper at night and very anxious during the day. The pups – well, Jack ignores her and Uno is very, very curious and likes licking her toes. Mom has been wonderful and is staying with me for a bit. Doug’s parents, sister, brother, and sister-in-law are coming up for a visit this weekend to see the new family addition.

I thought that I would come home nervous and unsure. Granted, there is still much to learn and I still find myself not knowing how to soothe her, but I imagine that feeling will continue for her lifetime.

A girl – Doug and I have a daughter. The only thing that we need right now is for Addison’s daddy to be home and life will be complete.


Addison Just Born 


Addison all Cleaned up 


Addison Sleeping 


Addison & Mom 


Addison Coming Home 


Coming Home! 

No News on the Nugget Front

Had my weekly doc appointment today and Nugget seems fairly content. Since I am now at 36 weeks, the doc feels comfortable taking me off of my "don't come today" meds and I can officially run (i.e. shuffle), swim, etc again and Nugget is free to come whenever. Although I am still having contractions, they are not strong enough where I can't talk through them. I was told that once they are 5 minutes apart for an hour and I have to stop what I am doing to get through them or my water breaks, then it is time to come in.

At 34 weeks when I went into preterm labor, they guessed Nugget to be 5.5-6 lbs. So now that I am at 36, he should be around 6.5-7. The way I figure it, at 40 weeks that makes him 8-9 lbs. Lasting till 42 weeks and having him over 9 lbs ain't sounding so good. I vote that next week would be good for me - I like 7 lb babies. Unfortunately, that timing is not good for my sister, Lisa, who is relying on my mom as well. Lisa had a c-section 3 weeks ago and can't lift her 19 month old twins until the first of August - thus mom has been living with her for the past three weeks. I think we may have to have 2 hours shifts with mom or something because I can't make it until August. Also my doc reminded me today that she is on vacation the week of July 17th and comes back the 26th and leaves again August 3rd. That leaves anytime between now and the 16th or anytime between July 27 and August 2nd.

Next Saturday works for me.

Vacation in Germany

I received a call last Thursday from a guy out of Doug's San Antonio unit - "have you heard from Doug lately?" Well - he had emailed me 2 days prior. Of course worry immediately set in. "He's in Germany." What???

My heart skipped a beat but all is well! Apparently, Doug's wrist break was a bit more than a break and it was not healing properly. The military doctors in Iraq were not comfortable with assessing whether surgery was needed so he had a jet ride to Germany a week ago. Fortunately, or unfortunately, he did not need surgery. Surgery would have likely meant a return trip home to the States. But I know that Doug would not be happy with leaving without his unit. The military docs in Germany were able to reset his arm, which apparently was not pleasant, and put the cast back on. He stayed until the 4th when he has started his trip back to the Dam which should take 5-6 days. It was a nice little vacation though! Believe it or not after enjoying a few cold German beers, taking a real shower, and sleeping in a somewhat real bed, watching a bit of the Tour de France, he was bored by Monday. And tired of the new roomate he had at the barracks who decided Doug needed to see his hernia.

The wonderful part for me was knowing he was in Germany and we were able to talk 3 days in a row! Actually for the first time in over 6 months, I was able to call him. It definately is the little things that I miss....