Wow, just realized it's been over a year and a half since I posted on Andrewandbrenda.com. I was never really good about keeping this thing updated, but geesh. At any rate, I'm trying to get back on track, especially for those of you that don't use Facebook. Still you should be reading The Daily Katie.
So this past Friday was our little Katie's second birthday! Hard to believe we've had her in our lives two whole years already. It's gone by pretty fast. I just looked through photos from her first birthday and was surprised at how little she looked. At any rate, here's a quick birthday recap.
Her birthday was on Friday, and since I was working, we figured we'd just go do something on the weekend. Turns out, I'd hit my 40 hours at Turner and got to come home early. Pretty rare for Daddy to be home by 6pm, let alone at 2:00 in the afternoon. So we opened some presents that arrived from all the grandparents and played with some stuff. At bedtime we also had new Curious George books to read.
Saturday was a typical "Daddy Day", where I watch Katie while Brenda works. We really just messed around the house. Daddy made chili, which Miss Katie promptly turned her nose up at.
And today we made our first trip to Chuck E. Cheese, which is in Alpharetta right next to Brenda's Jo-Ann store. I can still remember going to Showbiz Pizza in Parkersburg when I was a kid, so I was wondering how similar it would be. Showbiz had a huge dining room where you'd eat and have birthday parties. And at one end was a giant stage where, behind curtains, were several animatronic animals who played in a band. Every half-hour the curtains would open and they'd do some cheesy skit and then sing some songs. I remember they used to do a version of "Bang on the Drum All Day" and "She Blinded Me With Science". Don't ask how I remember that. Then the other half of the place was arcade games stuff like Skee-Ball and ball pits.
Chuck E. Cheese was a lot smaller than I remember Showbiz being. Maybe I was just smaller back then. Now, the show area, dining area and arcade are all one giant room. That means it's SUPER loud. Just as we got there, another group was having a birthday party, so Katie got some overspray of their "Happy Birthday" performance from Chuck E. (aka, minimum-wage worker in a hot, smelly suit). Katie ate a surprising amount of pizza while watching the little skits and then an animatronic Chuck E started singing songs like "You Make My Dreams" by Hall and Oates, and yes even "Bang on the Drum All Day".
We'd gotten 30 tokens with our meal, so we went and explored the game area. Katie's still too young for most of it, but they had a toddler area and she got to ride a few things. All in all, I think she enjoyed herself. No meltdowns, even when Chuck E came by to wave at her. We grabbed an 8" vanilla cake and headed home so Katie could take a nap (which she didn't actually do).
Last year, we got Katie a big cupcake for her birthday. She wasn't impressed and only sampled some icing. This year, however, she happily ate a whole piece and then licked her plate. She'd never had anything like that before. And the rest of the night, all we heard was "Cake, cake, cake…"
All in all, a pretty good birthday weekend, I think. I got a few photos and videos uploaded, but I can't wait to get my new iPhone next week. I'll finally have a better camera and be able to take HD video. I've really regretted not getting more video of Katie, but the quality this old iPhone 3Gs is capable of is pretty low. Can't wait to start building a better Katie film archive.
I've been putting off a bunch of blogging for some time, so I might as well get back in the swing with a Christmas wrap-up post.
We got up at about 4am on Wednesday, December 23rd for our holiday odyssey to Ohio. The plan was to get on the road by 5am and we walked out the door at 4:59. That was to be our only lucky break that day.
So far, Katie had generally proven to be a good passenger, and I'd hoped she wouldn't totally freak out on a long trip. So when I had to quickly pull off to the side of the interstate after she'd thrown up almost a whole bottle, I was starting to have my doubts. As gross and, unfortunate for Brenda (in the backseat), as it was, it was the only real gastrointestinal event of the trip. Other than normal spit-up, Katie didn't get sick again.
Onward.
Around 9:00 or so, we made our first pit stop at a travel center with a McDonald's. Not exactly the best first dining experience for Katie, but she did very well. Walking out, Brenda said, "Your tire is flat!" Sure enough, my rear driver's side tire was almost completely flat. This was the same tire that CarMax had repaired a few weeks before. Seemed totally fine up until then. 'Course, I hadn't put that many miles on it since the fix. I aired it back up and hoped it would hold out.
Onward.
Around noon, we stopped for gas again and the tire was really low again. I simply couldn't risk it all the way to Ohio; we were only in Elkin, North Carolina. So I asked the lady at the gas station where I could get a tire fixed, and she pointed me to a shop off the next exit.
Got to that shop, and they didn't have my type of tire (don't ask me what that is, I still don't know). So he gave me instructions to another tire shop off the next exit. Sounded confusing, so I got out the GPS and typed in 'Wal-Mart'. There was one off the next exit as well.
Got to where the GPS led us, and indeed there was a building that once was a Wal-Mart, but was totally abandoned. Luckily just up the road was the tire shop the last guy told us about. At first, they said it would be an hour to replace the tire, but apparently I looked desperate and frazzled enough they took pity on me. In about a half hour, they'd jacked up the car (with us in it) and replaced the tire. So, $106 later, we were on the road again.
Onward.
A little over an hour later, Brenda and I had switched places and we were in the mountains of Virginia. Soon we were in the middle of a long traffic jam that backed up for miles. At first we thought it was just an accident; there were three of them as we inched along. But actually, there is a place on I77 where it splits between I77 and 64, with the former going down to only one lane. And of course everyone wanted to go the way we were. It took over an hour to go 12 miles.
Amazingly, almost the entire time, Katie was awake and didn't fuss too much. I had to work pretty hard to keep her amused, but she did really well.
And with traffic behind us....onward.
The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful, just long. There was still some snow on the ground for most of the trip, but nothing major. A pit stop and Starbucks really helped. And then...we were in Ohio!
First stop was my sister, Amy's. She was chomping at the bit to see Katie for the first time, and I believe I would've been murdered if we'd have passed her house and not stopped. Katie was no doubt happy to get out of that car seat for a while, but we couldn't stay too long. Had to move on to the McCutcheon's.
Our time in Ohio went as usual, half with Brenda's family and half with mine. Very early on we told everyone we wouldn't be doing presents for anyone but Katie, and asked that any presents only be bought for her. Not surprisingly, Brenda and I still got some stuff, but for the most part it was all Katie. She got all kinds of good stuff including dolls, teddy bears, clothes, books and about $200.
Katie started the visit pretty strong, but once we got to Mom's in Newark, I think her schedule was really getting too far out of whack. Lots of new people, plus constant trips in the car, plus sporadic bedtimes really got things messed up. For about three nights it took forever for her to go to bed, something that was never a problem before. We're just now getting her back in the swing of things.
As for Katie's reception, of course everyone thought she was the cutest thing ever. And of course, we cannot dispute that. There were days when I barely had a chance to hold her myself. It was good for a break once in a while, but sometimes you just need to hold your baby.
I wish the visit could have been all good, but on Christmas Eve, my grandma Cooper developed pneumonia and ended up in intensive care. She was already in a rehab facility nursing a cracked pelvis from an earlier fall a couple weeks prior. We were in hopes she'd get out of rehab by the time we had our Christmas on Sunday, but then this latest development happened. Unfortunately, it also meant that she would not get to see Katie at all during our visit. Nobody under 18 was allowed in ICU, and I don't think I would've risked taking Katie to a hospital in flu season anyway.
This was definitely a low point of our trip, as I think grandma wanted to see Katie more than anyone. She's out of ICU and in her own private room as I write this, but it still remains to be seen what will happen. Mom doesn't sound optimistic, and I'm afraid Katie may never meet her great-grandmother. I can only keep some optimism that she'll battle through this as she's done with everything else that's come along. I was very happy, though, that grandpa Cooper and grandma McCutcheon got to spend some time with Katie.
All in all, though, we had a good visit, but it was time to hit the road the following Wednesday. We got on the road much later than the week before, around 9am. This was mostly due to the amount of time it took to pack the car. On the way up, my little Vibe was packed pretty full. Once we'd gotten gifts at Brenda's folks, I realized we'd never get it all home without some help. So I picked up a rain-proof car top carrier at Wal-Mart (no choice in Marietta). It worked out really well and was totally worth the forty bucks. (I'm trying to get Brenda talking about minivans, but it's a hard sell).
Once we'd gotten everything at mom's though, I had to get a lot more strategic in my packing. Finally got everything jammed in there, it just took forever to do.
The trip home was fairly uneventful, but super long. The trip home is always longer, as we leave from Newark instead of Marietta. We got hung up by a ridiculously long line at a Burger King, and rush hour traffic around Lake Norman, NC. Once it got dark, it also started raining, so the whole thing seemed to take a ludicrously long time. All told, both the trip up and trip back clocked in at about 14 hours.
Did I mention Katie did really well in the car? Well, almost the whole time. About two thirds of the way home, she finally decided she'd had enough with this driving crap. She fussed and cried pretty much the rest of the way home. Can't blame her really. I'm sure it seemed to her like every time she opened her eyes she was either in a new place with new people or still stuck in that stupid car.
It was almost 11pm when we pulled in the driveway, and it was cold and sleeting. There were places we could see a dusting of snow. I really wanted to just get inside and collapse, but I had to unload the car and the carrier. In the freezing rain. Fun.
Long story short (too late), we had a good visit and I'm glad everyone got to see Katie. But I think we'd both decided before we even left Ohio that we simply can't do this very often. Not while Katie is so young. Frankly, I think we probably had a screw loose even trying to do a 1200-mile, 7-day trip with a 2-month-old baby. But again, several family members would've had a posse looking for us.
While there's a whole year ahead of us, at least for right now, I think we're staying home next Christmas. Katie will be 14 months and we really want to have some family Christmases with just the three of us. We want to have memories of Katie running down our stairs on Christmas morning.
Plus, there's the expense. There's gas, food, and all the incidentals like new tires and car carriers that always come up. Plus, we have two cats and a dog to board. Those critters just cost us just shy of $900!! We'll be months paying that off. Right now, with Katie's expenses and Brenda only working part-time, we just can't afford that kind of thing anymore.
Again, things may change over the course of a year. I'm hoping to make some changes that will lead to more income soon, but for now, everyone should start planning for plane tickets next December.
So that's the big Christmas update. Special thanks to everyone that got something for Katie, it really helps a ton.
I was taking some photos of Katie today, trying to get her to smile with one of her little toys. All of a sudden, she started giggling! This may not sound extraordinary, but this is her first giggle ever! Once I realized what was going on, I put the camera down, leapt for my iPhone and was able to get about a minutes worth of heart-melting goodness!
I'm kind of in a hurry to get back to the hospital, so this will be the short, short version. I got up Wednesday morning at 3:30am and got Brenda up at 4:00. When we headed out the door, an unbelievable thunderstorm was going on dumping sheets of rain. Had to go about 40mph the entire way to the hospital. Luckily there isn't much traffic at 4:30, even in Atlanta.
We checked in shortly after 5:00 and didn't have to wait too long to get into our room. Their birthing rooms are super nice. Big, with hardwood floors and actual furniture. They really go out of their way to make it a comfortable place. They promptly got Brenda hooked up to the monitors and they started the IV with Pitocin about 7:30. Small contractions seemed to start right away.
Nothing much exciting for the next four hours. We were both exhausted so we were taking naps between nurse visits. Reruns of Mythbusters episodes where on in the background all day.
About 11:30 our doctor came in and broke Brenda's water. Shortly after, Brenda had reached as much pain as she was going to tolerate and they put the epidural in. Not long after, she was about 2cm dilated. Seemed like we still had a long ways to go, but only 2-3 hours later, the surprised nurse told us we were ready to go and she was calling our doctor.
Hard labor started around 5:30pm, about twelve-and-a-half hours after we checked in. I can't tell you how incredibly well I thought Brenda did through the whole process. Yes, she had the epidural, but the entire day was pretty taxing. I'm very proud of her.
Kathedra ("Katie") Eileen Jones was born at 6:42pm, October 7th, 2009. She's 7lbs, 10oz, and 20 inches long. And she's already sporting a full head of hair! Neither of us has been able to spend much time with her. We've held her for a grand total of maybe five minutes before they took her to the nursery. That's a major bummer, but the previous post explains why. The main thing is we'll be thrilled to finally get her home and all to ourselves for a while.
Thanks to everyone that followed the play-by-play. I know it's difficult for the many friends and family that are so far away during a time like this. It's hard on us, too, but we've always been 100% confident in our decision to move to Atlanta and consider this our home. And we can't wait to raise our new daughter here. Just remember, Atlanta is a pretty short plane ride and we have plenty of space for guests :)
I'm home for a bit to shower, change clothes and look in on the cats (like they care). So I wanted to post a more detailed update of the last day and a half.
I should lead off by saying that if you saw the photos of Katie in the Special Care Nursery this morning, DO NOT let it freak you out. Soon after she was born, they noticed she had a breathing pattern they referred to as "grunting". They took her up to the transitional nursery where they do all the usual post-birth stuff. After a while I got an update from a doctor who told me Katie had something called a "Pneumothorax", which is air that has collected outside the lungs, making it harder for them to expand fully (the article explains this better than I can). The likely cause, for Katie, is the first deep breathes she took immediately after birth.
The doctor was pretty clear about the fact that this is not serious and not totally uncommon in newborns. There's a chance that if it doesn't get any worse, Katie will just work it out herself. And if not, they can easily remove the excess air with a needle. That said, they admitted her last night to the Special Care Nursery so they could continue to monitor and give her supplemental oxygen. So in the photos, I'm sure it looks a lot worse than it really is. She's got an oxygen tube, a feeding tube and an IV for antibiotics. Everything else is just a monitor.
They took a couple more chest x-rays last night, but we've not yet spoken to a doctor today. When we visited about 10:30 this morning, she was visibly breathing better and sleeping very well. They'll keep her at least 2 days, but as many as 6. That sucks, but it's more important to make sure she has a clean bill of health. I'll keep posting updates as we get them. Just trust me when I say....don't panic :)
Well, this is it. Tomorrow (Wed, Oct 7th) we head to the hospital at 5:00am where they'll induce Brenda! We had a visit with the Dr. today and since we're now almost a week past the due date, she went ahead and scheduled us. We've had a bag packed for a couple weeks, so we're ready. Just wondering how much sleep we're going to get tonight.
I'll have my iPhone on me the whole time, and will be posting updates to the blog, Twitter and Youtube as often as I can. Here's where to look for updates:
Twitter (short text updates) YouTube (videos) Flickr (photos) ...and of course, right here.
Yes, I realize as a big-shot web developer, I should've come up with something way slicker to keep everyone updated. Time just kinda got away from me. But I'll still keep you all updated :)
Wow, just realized it's been over a year and a half since I posted on Andrewandbrenda.com. I was never really good about keeping this thing updated, but geesh. At any rate, I'm trying to get back on track, especially for those of you that don't use Facebook. Still you should be reading The Daily Katie.
Chuck E. Cheese was a lot smaller than I remember Showbiz being. Maybe I was just smaller back then. Now, the show area, dining area and arcade are all one giant room. That means it's SUPER loud. Just as we got there, another group was having a birthday party, so Katie got some overspray of their "Happy Birthday" performance from Chuck E. (aka, minimum-wage worker in a hot, smelly suit). Katie ate a surprising amount of pizza while watching the little skits and then an animatronic Chuck E started singing songs like "You Make My Dreams" by Hall and Oates, and yes even "Bang on the Drum All Day".
Last year, we got Katie a big cupcake for her birthday. She wasn't impressed and only sampled some icing. This year, however, she happily ate a whole piece and then licked her plate. She'd never had anything like that before. And the rest of the night, all we heard was "Cake, cake, cake…"
We checked in shortly after 5:00 and didn't have to wait too long to get into our room. Their birthing rooms are super nice. Big, with hardwood floors and actual furniture. They really go out of their way to make it a comfortable place. They promptly got Brenda hooked up to the monitors and they started the IV with Pitocin about 7:30. Small contractions seemed to start right away.
Kathedra ("Katie") Eileen Jones was born at 6:42pm, October 7th, 2009. She's 7lbs, 10oz, and 20 inches long. And she's already sporting a full head of hair! Neither of us has been able to spend much time with her. We've held her for a grand total of maybe five minutes before they took her to the nursery. That's a major bummer, but the previous post explains why. The main thing is we'll be thrilled to finally get her home and all to ourselves for a while.