jake's dedication

my husband's half-brother, jake, was dedicated to the Lord on sunday. dan and i were designated as God-parents. i am honored. i don't know anyone who is a God-parent. they might be going out of "fashion"?

it was a lovely day. the church service and baptisms and jake's dedication were held at the pastor's lake home. i really enjoy lake baptisms. it is so much more authentic then getting dunked in a tank. here is an point of interest, my father-in-law's pastor informed the baptism candidates that he would either sprinkle them or immerse them. i just think it is silly to think that sprinkling is the way to go. you could be sprinkled anywhere. why would john the baptist wade out into a river to baptize people if he could have done it on land with a bowl or something? so, i did see a little girl wade out into the water and get sprinkled. she was wet up to her chest, and sprinkled. it did look very silly. anyone disagree with me?

but don't get me wrong. i am glad she was baptised, and i do believe that she was baptised. i just think it was a silly way to go about it, and not the exact example from the Bible. she was making a public profession of her faith and salvation, so i believe she was baptized. amen for that.

"mama's little baby..."

my cousin called me yesterday and informed me that i hadn't written anything in my blog in about a week. i tell you what, when you are constantly feeding a ravenous newborn, you really don't get much time to play on your computer.:)

yesterday was the WORST!!! jack ate the entire day! he would nod off and i would try to put him down for a nap and he would start fussing. if i let the fussing go, it would snowball into the "hungry cry". NNNNNNNNEHHHHHH!!!! he didn't get a nap the entire day, and he usually takes a 3-4 hour nap. so, i decided that he was really hungry and that if i felt like snacking the entire day, i guess he could too. also, maybe he was going through a growth spurt?... well, jack was weighed today and he weighs 10 lbs. 10.5 oz. he weighed 9 lbs. 2.2 oz at birth and 9 lbs. 11.5 oz. last thursday. that means he gained about a pound in a week. yes, i would call that a growth spurt. guess what, he has been napping for about 2.5 hours now. peace at last!!! hence, a blog post.

shopping or napping...

what is more important? jack's naps, or his social development?:) stupid mommy, i just took him uptown for some groceries and to the farmer's market. now he's awake and looking for food and i screwed up naptime for him and me. not even fresh rhubarb can make me glad i messed with naptime. sigh.

about diapering

i just powdered jack's little behind. i got a bunch on the new couch. oops. that stuff comes out fast. jack looked like either the victim of an unforunate baking accident, or like i was trying to smuggle cocaine in his diaper.

screaming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i love this photo. this is jack when he's had enough of mommy's picture taking.

photo of jack's foot

jack has huge feet and loooong toes. i know that they are quite remarkable because all the nurses commented on them, and you know they see alot of baby toes.

photos of jack

here is a photo of jack sleeping in his daddy's arms on sunday. he's about 2 days old. he is wearing my favorite puppy onesie. :) i have to take more photos, none that i have taken so far have really captured his cuteness. good thing i have about 12 rolls of film.

jack's parents

here we are, the new parents. this was taken the morning after i had jack. i don't recall if this was pre or post-makeup. i don't wear that much. anyway, dan held out the camera and took this shot of us. note the puffy lips. i had heard you shouldn't "push" with your eyes. i pushed with my lips. hey, whatever gets you there.

i give jack a bath

today i gave jack a bath all by myself. i did it in the bathroom sink with a towel on the edge of the porcelain sink so that he couldn't hurt his little head. it was so cute. he totally filled up the bowl of the sink with his long legs. he really enjoys the warm water. after the bath he felt so warm and cozy that he went to sleep in my dad's arms while i took a shower. i love this mommy business. it is so much fun.

my dad stayed for lunch. dad, dan and i all sat in the breakfast nook eating yummy leftovers from dinners people from church keep bringing over. i missed jack so i rolled his bassinet right over to the table. i really enjoy that bassinet. it is much better than putting jack in a bouncey seat or car seat on the floor when i need to have my hands free to do stuff.

food i won't buy for dan

yesterday dan and i took jack out to see the people where i work. we also stopped at target and for groceries. jack got hungry and i had to send in dan with a short list while i fed the baby. these were the essentials we had run out of: o.j., miracle whip, milk, grapes, cheese singles, etc. dan came back a loooong time later with "extries", as our friend doug says.

just now i was putting things away and i opened the pantry. i exclaimed, "YUCK!". what dan had considered yummy impulse buys i consider disgusting. this is the food i "won't let dan have": manwich, 3 packages of smoked oysters in oil (generic! ew!), pork and beans, a can of corned beef and hash, two packages of really unappetizing generic cookies on the kitchen counter, and there is a can of "five alive" in our freezer. i laughed when i found the five alive yesterday. how silly!:) i guess to keep dan happy i should just buy the grossest food substance i see in the grocery store and bring it home to surprise him.:) that seems to be the stuff his old bachelor self misses. maybe i'll get him some pickled pigs feet next time.

jack anders is born!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

here is a recent e-mail sent to everyone announcing my son's birth!!!!!!!!!!!:

"jack is finally here! i went into labor thursday, june 7th. i was a week past my due date. dan and i went out to eat at applebees since it was our 4th wedding anniversary. i didn't feel "well", but i had false alarms the entire week and i was determined to celebrate my anniversary. when we got home about 7:30pm i started having contractions. i timed them and it seemed like it was the real thing! we called the hospital and they agreed that we should come in. we were admitted to the hospital at about 10:30pm.

i had a long labor--27 hours. my body just didn't respond well to labor. my dr. said my uterus didn't do what it needed to do. plus, after the fact, it was determined that my amniotic fluid was extremely low and jack had been in slight distress for about a week.
long story short -- at about 22 hours and 4 centimeters dilated i gave up going drug-free and got nubain. mistake! it didn't take my pain away, i just felt like i was "stoned". or, how i suppose you would feel when stoned. then, my dr strongly suggested an epidural so i could relax and dilate, or else she felt i would be headed toward a c-section. i fully agreed with her. after about ONLY AN HOUR i went from a 4 to 10 centimeters!!! hooray! so i got to push. i know i wanted a drug-free delivery... BUT I ALSO WANTED TO AVOID MAJOR SURGERY. so, i am glad i avoided c-section.

jack anders schroeder was born at 10:04pm on friday, june 8th. he was very alert despite the drugs and i was able to feed him right away and he is a champ! he eats very well and is satisfied. he weighed 9 lbs. 2 oz. he is 23 inches long. he has dark brown hair, huge hands and feet, and long fingers and toes. i think he has my father's bigggggg head. i really think he looks like me as a baby and that's really neat. i do hope he gets his father's nose and beautiful green eyes. we will see.

oh, by the way, i am fine! i was up and walking even with the epidural and i am just a bit tired. dan keeps saying how great i look and i am reveling in the compliments. :) i don't think i look so amazing, but i will say that i weigh less now than when i got pregnant. jack has been a super star the entire pregnancy, and he continues to make mommy happy!

dan was so great. he helped me out a lot. he took a very active part in the delivery and he was pretty amazed by it all. he continues to be a great help. he is a pro at calming jack down with the swaddling and etc. i will have to have him teach me exactly how he does it. right now i just hand jack over and let daddy do it.:)"

this is the photo the hospital took for their website. jack is about 24 hours old in this photo. this is the first photo i have of my baby. more will follow soon!!!!!! by the way, doesn't it look like he's going to punch you with his "left hook"?:) "mama said knock you out" (L.L. Cool J)

just testing...

yesterday my sister had the brilliant idea to walk this baby out of me. so, we headed off to pick up my preggers photos. i had thought they wouldn't be here until after the baby, but what did i know?

we picked up my photos, then i took my sis back and since nothing was happening, i went to work. at work i thought i felt some contractions, and had another interesting sign i won't go into here about. so, after work my sister calls to see if anything was happening and offers to come over to walk with me a bit so that my contractions might get stronger. i agree. at 10pm we start walking up and down my driveway. we have a flashlight and the dog and cat for company. after the walking i came inside and walked up and down the stairs. the contractions just faded away, they didn't get stronger. it was so disappointing. i got dan all worked up for nothing. he looked a bit haggard this morning at 5am. i felt really bad.

well, this pose is my fave. the other one i had to buy. here i am preggers in a garden.:)

i cry wolf

monday i called in to work, thinking i was in labor. surely, i thought, today was the day. it wasn't.

incidentally, monday was the day they printed the office newsletter, "bylines". i'm in there twice. having a baby makes me interesting.:) at the very least, it makes me newsworthy. it says that i was probably having my baby. "wolf! wolf!".

oh look, i got my preggers photos back. here's me frolicking in a forest glen...

4th wedding anniversary

today is my 4th wedding anniversary. it was almost completely overshadowed by my pregnancy! two days ago i truly realized that it was nearing... and that i hadn't bought a gift for dan. it just wasn't supposed to be like this. i was supposed to have my baby and then, eventually, my anniversary was supposed to come. i got dan an olive green tee that says in camo, "world's greatest dad" and he is going to take me out to eat at a fancy restaurant. so that's our big plans.:) i hope my maternity wear has something dressy enough for the occassion...

dan is my hero

dan tipped a car over with his bulldozer last night. it was a "parts car" he picked up cheaply. he wanted the fuel injectors out of it for repairing my car. after it was tipped he took some bolts out, tipped the car back over, and the engine and stuff all fell out! it was neat. i videotaped it. then he lifted the front of the car, took an axe and cut some tubes still attached, and pushed the car back over. oh yeah, then he crushed the front of the car a bit by driving on it with the dozer. just for fun!
this morning when i got back from shopping with my mom and gram the yard was all cleaned up again. he's a quick one! dan loaded what's left of the car on his trailer and soon he'll tow it to the recycling yard and get money for it. he is such a thrifty hard worker. i am very proud of him. and i love him very much.

jack's bassinet and a bit about gardening

i have a vintage "baskinette" bassinet for jack to spend the first few months in. it is so precious, and useful! i can wheel it right up to my bedside, or right out of the way. i painted it royal blue. i would say it looks blueberry. dan doesn't care for the color. he says it is "ford engine blue". well, that can't be helped. i could never have forseen that one! mom made it a white cotton seersucker liner and recovered my old bassinet pad. it looks so cute now. today she bought some white cotton fabric to make a skirt for it. i think it will look so glamorous when she's done. it's great having a sewing mom.

i did a bit of gardening again today. i pulled a few weeds and planted some more seeds and re-potted some begonias. just trying to keep myself busy so i don't go nuts waiting.

COME IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

today i was very silly. i was sitting in the living room updating my address book. then i heard a knock at the door. just a few minutes earlier it had been my gramps, bringing back some egg mash feed he had borrowed for his chickens. i think that's what he said. so, i thought it was just gramps again. so, i yelled out, "come in! come in!!!!! COME IN!!!" and the door opened and it was dan's old school friend "panda". i was very surprised. oops. i apologized for being so rude. i am just not used to non-family visitors. i feel you may yell in your family, but not your friends.:)

the "three piggy opera" star!!!

here is claire, star of the "three piggy opera".:) actually, she didn't have a real part, but she was the star to me. her kindergarten class had a very nice program and i got to go see. after the performance, we all went back to visit her class. i thought the book reading area was so cute that i needed a photo. this is claire, my husband's sister's daughter. my niece!

andy's big fish

dan and andy have really taken to fishing this winter, and now, in the spring. dan will sometimes go fishing for a bit at night just him and the dog.:) a man and his dog. i'm just glad he doesn't ask me. i am not too keen on boats. canoes i like. might be a control issue.

andy caught this one. (note my turquoise kitchen wall and baker's rack in the background.) right behind andy is the door to the laundry room where they clean the fish. well, dan cleans them.:)

jack's armoir

right now jack's armoir is in the living room. only until he gets to move in to his nursery. i am really trying to stick to the blue and white theme. it just says "ultra boy" to me. it may be the megalomanic in me. if it is going to be a boy... it is going to be a boy IN A BIG WAY!!!

the little outfit hanging on the door is one of my two faves. isn't it sweet?

sunday school kids

here's a photo of my little sunday school class. actually, hannah is in a younger class but the teacher wasn't there that day and i picked up her slack. also, serena is absent.

left to right: hannah, andrew, rachel, sarah

how the grinch stole my Christmas

i'm a day past my due date. bummer. i tried a lot of walking yesterday, i tried 4 packets of hot sauce on my chicken quesadilla at taco bell, i tried scrubbing the shower and tub, i tried exercising on the "birthing ball" and bouncing, i tried other so-called fail safe ways and i even pinned my hopes on the full moon... NOTHING. well, so much for those old wives tales.