Laundry (in the sky with diamonds)

Funny story (with gratuitous Beatles references)...


Doing the laundry / placating the baby

So our washer is getting on in its years and has recently developed the very bad habit of doing the hippy-hippy shake when it hits the spin cycle. Those of you mature enough to have your own washers and/or dryers can imagine what I'm talking about... it sort of wiggles and thumps with every revolution. Unfortunately, our washing machine is placed in a rather tight spot at the end of our hall, between our bedroom and the bunny bedroom (did I mention we have 2 pet rabbits?). In addition, little Gabi's crib is on the wall, just on the other side of where our twisting, shouting washing machine is going all helter-skelter.

Most of the time we just let it be, but yesterday I thought I should try to do something to chill it out. I discovered that the washer danced less if I sat on it, so that's what I did (I got a ticket to ride on the washing machine). In the meantime, Mama was trying to get Gabi to get back to sleep (without success) and was in need of some help. Inspiration struck her that we should come together and tackle both problems at the same time. So she handed me the baby and got the camera out.

I wasn't sure whether this would work, but I should have known better than to doubt my intrepid wife, because it worked perfectly. Gabi was soon sleeping like a... like a paperback writer in a yellow submarine on penny lane.

My apologies to John, Paul, George, and Ringo. I also realize that the last few were a stretch--more of a stretch than the others--a sure sign that I should think about wrapping this up and going to bed.

We were informed this evening that placing the baby on top of the washing machine is a fairly commonly used techique for lulling her. I would like to add my personal testimony that this works. It is also a great way to keep your washing machine from escaping loudly down the hall.

Quack quack! All clean!

Papa and Gabi after her first bath at home.

This is a picture of me holding baby Gabi after her first non-hospital bath. Mama actually gave her the bath, and she cried the whole time (Gabi, not Mama). I was standing by in case I could be helpful (kind of like the circulating nurse in the OR). Mama let me wrap her up in her ducky-hooded towel and pose for this picture like I did something of import. Really, all I did was stand around and look cute... like I'm doing in this picture.

In the background, you can see Gabi's crib (which used to be my crib growing up) with a sheet that Gramma made and Gabi's new Starry Night Mobile, which Grampa set up for us while we were waiting to leave the hospital. Also in the crib is a soft little bunny rabbit that Mama got for Christmas (from Papa).

Homecoming

This is a picture of my adorable daughter once we arrived home for the first time. She has her Mama's ears and lips, and right now she looks to have her Papa's nose and hair. Her eyes are dark like her Papa's, too, although they have a deep blue tinge--we'll see if they turn brown as she grows or stay blue like her Mama's.


Sweet Gabriella in her homecoming
outfit from Gramma and Grampa

Uncle Brian's Gabi Gallery

Uncle Brian has created a gallery of his pictures from last weekend. You know, in case you still haven't gotten your fill of Gabi pictures.

Hospital Discharge

Mama with Gabi	Papa with Gabi

We were able to go home after Mama and Gabi did well for 24 hours. Here are a couple of pictures we took while we were waiting for final instructions from our nurse. Gabi had no problems while she was in the hospital... but we are all still recovering from the experience and trying to settle into life at home. Before we left, Gabi had her first immunization (for Hepatitis B) as well as her metabolic screen (for diseases like PKU).

Well... that's enough pictures for one night. Check back for updates. We plan to keep this baby for quite a while. Goodnight!

Uncle Brian and Gabi

Uncle Brian and Gabi

Uncle Brian spent most of the weekend learning various things about newborn babies. For instance, upon arrival, he received a thorough training in baby-holding. Here you can see his progression from receiving instruction from Gramma to developing elite (l33t?) baby-holding skills.

Grampa and Gramma (and Uncle Brian)

More grandparents! (And an uncle!)

Of course, the grandparents on the other side of the family (and the other side of the Arkansas-Texas border) also came out for a visit. They even brought Uncle Brian with them. Here they are getting to see our baby for the first time. Grampa is a pediatrician and Gramma is a nurse and seasoned mother of four, so we are obviously blessed with a great resource for baby-related questions. In addition, Uncle Brian... has a lot of hair, so he'll be a great resource for Gabi's eventual hair-pulling stage.

Proud Grandparents (Papa's Side)

Lola, Lolo, and Gabi

Another picture from Lola and Lolo's visit. My dad is totally excited about our new baby. His birthday was just last week, and for his birthday present, we got him a little photo album to keep his Gabi pictures in.

Did I mention that this is the first grandchild on both sides of the family? Yeah, our baby will certainly have attention lavished upon her.

Gabi and Lola

Gabi playing with Lola.

Our first visitors in the hospital (bright and early the next morning) were my parents, Lola and Lolo. This is a picture of Lola imitating little Gabi sticking out her tongue. I think it's cute.

Tummy Time

It's tummy time!

While we were in the hospital, we gave Gabi her first "tummy time." Being firm believers in the back to sleep campaign, we make sure that Gabi always sleeps on her back. Of course, if she spends all that time on her back, she won't be able to develop her arm, leg, and neck muscles. So it's suggested that we give her some supervised "tummy time" while she's awake (so as not to suffocate) and we're watching her (so as not to let her suffocate).

At any rate, in addition to being necessary from a health standpoint, this excercise is also very adorable to watch. You might be able to tell just how cute I think this is from my expression in this picture.

Our first family picture

Gabriella Christine was born last Friday, February 25. She weighed 6 pounds, 9 ounces. This is our first picture as a family. We had quite an adventure in getting to this point:

Thursday morning, Lissa (the Mama) didn't feel too well, and she mentioned this to her OB/Gyn at her doctor's appointment. After being unable to figure out what was wrong from her symptoms, she had a monitor placed on her belly that showed she was having contractions... which she couldn't feel yet. So we decided that since Thursday was supposed to be her due date, maybe we'd go ahead and induce on Friday morning.

Well, apparently our baby didn't like that idea, so she started making her presence known later that afternoon. By 11 that evening, the contractions were 3 to 5 minutes apart. We'd been instructed that, when the contractions were that close, we should wait for 2 hours, then go to the hospital. Lissa has a pretty significant family history of quick deliveries, so we were a bit concerned about whether that would afford us the time to get there in time. Although our doctor insisted that quick deliveries were not genetic, she also assured us that even if this were to be a quick delivery, Mama would be hurting enough by the time the baby was coming that we'd have gone to the hospital already.

Lissa, as you may or may not know, is something of a tough cookie, so we thought we should just wait until either 2 hours had passed or there was enough pain to tell us to go. At 11:55 that evening, Lissa was thinking that it might be nice to have some pain medication, so maybe we should go to the hospital. Of course, we never got to discuss that, because 5 minutes later, she informed me that the baby was crowning.

So we hopped into the Baby-mobile and raced to the hospital, Lissa holding the baby in, and Mikey driving while coaching her to breathe and not push. We made it to the hospital, and were able to expedite our journey to the Labor and Delivery ward by informing them that the baby was indeed coming right then. After that, well, we got into the room, and Lissa delivered the baby (the old fashioned way, no anesthesia of any sort) at 12:42 AM. She weighed 6 pounds, 9 ounces, and was 19 inches long. The OB/Gyn arrived half an hour later in complete shock at what had happened.

After all that, we now have a sweet little baby girl in our home... and you are lucky enough to read all about her!

More Greetings (from Papa)

Hi! I'm Gabi's Papa! Her mama and I will be posting news about our baby as well as our favorite pictures for all our friends and family to enjoy. Hopefully, this will be a fun way for you all to keep updated on our little baby. Feel free to comment on what you see here or what you might like to see. Thanks for stopping by!

Greetings

Hello! My name is Gabriella Christine, but you can call me Gabi!