False Alarm

Even though I'm writing this post, it's Tracy's story.  I just know that if I don't tell it, she won't.

I got a call a few weeks ago at work.  Tracy was panicking because Tanner was missing.  She had gone to Costco with him and Alexa while Afton was at school, and then she came home, took him inside, and went back out to start talking to our neighbor.  After talking for a while, she realized that she hadn't heard from Tanner. at all.

I asked her a few questions, "Did you look in the closets and the lower cupboards? You know he likes to hide in there." She had, and even gone through the house, and then the neighborhood calling his name.  She decided that she had either left him at Costco or he had wandered away while she was talking.

I left work and started driving home in a slightly more spirited manner than usual.  When I was about halfway home, Tracy called again.  He had been hiding in our bedroom closet, in the dark section that divides the "Hers" from the "His".  He didn't come out when she was calling for him because he had decided not to use the potty, but soil his underwear instead, and didn't want to get in trouble.

Crisis averted.

I finished working from home that day.
   

Birthday Surprise

So, I come home from mutual and find this.




Totally awesome. obviously. In case you can't tell, my door is completely wrapped with christmas wrapping paper, and there are 4 HUGE boxes on my doorstep. They completely cover the doorway. There is also a note saying "Merry Christmas - Happy Birthday. Instructions: Find the eight presents inside. Have fun!" Imagine my glee. How fun is it opening presents! There were boxes upon boxes to open-lots of smaller boxes inside the larger ones! It was the best thing ever! My whole living room-covered in boxes! The best part (2 things, actually)- 1. I got 3 unmatched socks. YAHOO!! I mean, I LOVE socks, and the fact that they don't match is terrific, the very best, wonderful, amazing..... It's good to be known so well. I got some other things that are cool like a slinky and pez, but the socks were over the top!

2. I now have boxes to ship Christmas presents! Hooray!!


Anyways, I just want to say thanks to my mystery door decorators, but have no fear, I have a few guesses on who you are! :0)

Home sweet home

We're home from the hospital today, on Easter Sunday. We arrived home at about 3:30 this afternoon, since they let us stay pretty much as late as we wanted, and we figured we should eat lunch before we left.
Dinner was provided by the Relief Society, or at least, one sister from the RS, and another brought a meal for tomorrow's dinner. (I suspect the real reason for the dinners is to have an excuse to come over and ogle hold the baby.)
We're working on nursing, still. Tracy's milk has started to come in, and it looks like Afton is starting to get the hang of things here.
I'm working on getting the place organized, because it's a royal mess right now. I should rephrase that. The baby stuff is a royal mess. Our laundry's a disaster too, but it always was. This, however, is providing some motivation to clean up our laundry, since hers needs to be done right.
We just hadn't organized any of the baby stuff for when the baby came because we had started packing for our possible move, which, by the way, isn't happening. In case anyone hadn't heard, the seller was foreclosed on, after his bank dis-approved the offer we made. They aren't gonna get much more than we offered, but they're crazy if they think they're gonna get their money back. He paid like 350,000 for that house. The tax assessment, which is generally regarded as a little high, is 235,100. Last year's was 268500. The bank said they're gonna try to sell it for 220,000. Ha! not anymore.

Anyway, I'm back to organizing diapers, wipes, and toys.

More baby

Just one picture though. The hospital recommend that the baby lay on Mom's chest, and they encourage Dad to do it too; take your shirt off, lay on the pull out bed, and put her tummy-down on your chest. Cover her up with blankets, and let gravity hold her to you. She really does like it; she calms down no matter what, and goes to sleep. Apparently, she likes to be able to hear your heartbeat, and she won't argue about letting you generate heat for one side of her, either. It's almost like the nice cozy space she was in before she got unceremoniously kicked out.

For any statistic seekers out there (Mom), Afton, when born, weighed 7 pounds, ad was 20.5 inches. (Note that Matt and Amy's baby was also 20.5 inches!) Her ahd an APGAR score of 9, (out of a possible 10).

However, when she was weighed tonight at 5, she had lost 11 ounces. We're working on some feeding 'regulation', and we'll see how well we can get Tracy and Afton working together.

The camera's batteries are dead, and my contacts are getting tired, so I'm going to bed. Bye!

More pictures, straight from the source

You don't need the paparazzi when you've got the papa! Okay, so it's a bad play on words. Sheesh. Always demanding. More pictures, better puns, etc., etc. ;)

Last night's sleep was terrific, even though we got interrupted. We did the 10:00 feeding, but had the nursery handle the 2:00 feeding. Smart move, I think. Tracy and Afton have the nursing think fairly well handled, I think, but we'll see just how good it is after we leave the hospital.
I think last night was the best Tracy's slept in at least two weeks, perhaps even two months. Her bladder has more space, there's no baby pressing on internal organs, etc.
This morning's feeding went well, too. Tracy and Afton did well together.
I, today, am going to go home, clean up some, find a car seat, and crash for a few hours on our bed.

Live, from the Prince William County Hospital!

And do I mean live!

Afton Michelle Scoresby was born this morning at 7:31 AM, Eastern Time.

Tracy went into work yesterday complaining of cramping, and she assumed it was just Braxton-Hicks contractions. She called her doctor's office, and they asked her to come in for a quick look-see, and they said she and the baby were fine. The "cramps" got worse through the day, and as night fell, they started getting worse. She didn't sleep (well? no.) at all because of them, and at 3:30, woke me up, saying that we needed to go to the hospital. The contractions had gotten much worse, andshe said that they only felt better if she bore down. (yeah, that's a sign, a BIG one.) We took care of the preliminaries, and headed in. We arrived at the hospital at 3:45 AM. When we walked in, the labor and delivery nurse, who was one of the ones on duty when Tracy went in in December, recognized us, and looked at her, and was kind of skeptical, right up until a contraction hit, and she said, "That's the face of labor." We went into an L&D room, and when she got Tracy on the bed and took a look, lo and behold, Tracy was dilated to a 7. By the time her doctor arrived and checked her, about 4:30, she was a 9. She got an epidural at about 5-5:30ish, and 10 minutes later, the doc broke her water. At about 7:15-7:20, they decided it was time to start pushing, and so Tracy really pushed, and Afton was out at 7:31, weighing 3175 grams, 6.999 pounds.
Tracy was terrific. Even through the pain before the epidural, she was great, once she had the epidural, she was calm and collected, and when the time came, she pushed the baby right out. The nurse said she was kind of skepticall when Tracy came in because women who are at a 7 normally don't look happy, even between contractions.

Afton has been a happy girl so far, although she's really just slept most of the time, and only really wakes up when we move her.

Thanks to everyone for the support we've got, everyone who's helping us out right now, and anyone else who's been praying for us.