How Sweet It Is

To help celebrate being "mobile," Patrick and I met Liza and Ryan for dinner with child. Patrick Jr. was very clearly on his best behavior for his Godparents! With hardly a peep, our baby was an absolute angel. As usual, we laughed the whole time and were spoiled with their company. And Baby P even scored the cutest seersucker boat shoes which "we" can't wait to wear!

Even though I am over a month delayed in writing this post, it just makes me smile when I think of the fun times we've had with Patrick Jr. And what a blessing such special friends are to our baby's life. I can only look forward to the many more we'll share with the Schlitts. All of our love...

First Things First

Mommy made the trip to Oklahoma solo with the little man...and should win a medal of honor! Patrick slept for the first 2 or so hours but after a little lunch, all hell broke loose. Let's just say that for the rest of the trip, the baby cried and it's a real wonder that this Mommy didn't. Although I was on the phone with my own mommy most of the trip!

Thankfully my mom had purchased a fine bottle of wine to celebrate my first trip home with the baby solo...and had chilled it immediately after hearing my first phone call. :) Mimi was all but waiting in the driveway when we pulled up and rescued the baby and me.

Fortunately, our trip there was no indication of how the rest of our visit would be! We had the BEST time visiting friends and meeting Great Grandma Theo. It was such a memorable afternoon spent with my grandmother. Patrick Jr. has been privileged to meet both of my grandmothers and very soon, Patrick's grandfather. Truly treasured moments.

Thanks to more than a few prayers, Baby Patrick and Mommy did just fine on the way home to Dallas. So much so, that this Mommy has already made plans to do it again!

Mimi and Baby P

Meeting Great Grandma Theo

So sweet!

My precious Patrick

Baby P and Mimi's Thursday night bridge group!

At lunch with Lanie and Jordan.

A quick hug from Somer before heading to bed!

3 Months

Sweet Baby Patrick...you are 3 months old and growing by the second! It is so much fun to watch you discover new things and become more alert and mature.

Here are some things about you this month:

You are LEARNING to like being stopped at red lights.

You love to be read to. Daddy reads you Sports Illustrated and you help him by "turning" the pages. In fact, you often reach for pages of your books when Mommy reads to you too!

You have found your toys on the swing and love to move the rattle and rings.

Tummy time should be renamed to lounging time because you love to lounge around with an occasional head lift or turn. :)

You are happy the majority of the time - complete with smiles and coos. Although if you are worn out, you will definitely 'tell' us about it!

You hold your head up high and are getting stronger every day.

You still have a hearty appetite eating every 2 hours during the day. I think you're fattening yourself up for the night because you sleep all night long for Mommy and Daddy! Anywhere from 7 or 8 hours, a quick feeding and then you're asleep again for another 2-3 hours. Ahhh. (Although now you are waking up in the wee hours again! Mommy and Daddy are praying that this is only temporary though.)

You are officially sleeping in your own room...and Mommy is sad. You turned 3 months old and just 2 days later were moved into your nursery.

You are batting at and holding hanging toys on your play gym.

YOU ROLLED OVER!

You love watching Mommy smile at you. The bigger Mommy's smile, the bigger yours is.

Ours days consist of naps, playtime, early morning walks to beat the heat! and shopping trips.

You are still such a delight, especially in the morning! You are so incredibly relaxed and happy and adorable. Mommy and Daddy love you so much. Life just keeps getting better with you in it.

M is for Memories

I love holiday weekends! We spent a fabulous few days with best friends but it flew by, as usual! Lucky for us, the out of towners (Von Tungelns and Archambos) graced Texas and we were all together again but this time with our littlest additions: Kolt, Finley and Patrick.

A special thanks to my Big and Kyle whose hospitality didn't disappoint!! We spent the weekend relaxing poolside...and inside...with babies and munched on yummo scrummo food. Along with Friday night dinner at Babe's, golfing, Patsy's, and a noisy lunch or two, the weekend was perfect. Here's to GOOD TIMES during Memorial Day weekend.

The Big Day

After reading my friend Tiffany's, "Meeting Maddox" post, I realized that I hadn't documented our own big day. And since my blog posts will become Patrick's year one scrapbook, this post came to be. So here is our story...

The day before the big day. At 39 weeks, Patrick and I headed to Dr. Weiss' office for an ultrasound and then on to Dr. Oliver's office for my weekly appointment. Our ultrasound showed that Baby Patrick's heart rate was good but not great and was measuring 7 lbs 5 oz. For these and a myriad of other reasons, Dr. Oliver opted to induce me. I'd check into the hospital that night.

Off we went. Me in a pink Lilly Pulitzer polo and jeans and Daddy-to-be behind the wheel driving us home for the last time as a family of 2. All of the Gparents were on stand-by and so the phone calling began. My Mom was soon on her way from Oklahoma and Dad was coming after his trial on Thursday which he couldn't get moved. The North Carolina Gparents started praying.

After checking into hospital that night, the only thing left to do was wait. My amazing nurse Kris hung out in our room with us until her shift ended at 11 pm (sigh) but introduced Betty, my night nurse. Love her. The couch was the size of a potato chip, so I sent my hubby packing about that time. He went home to sleep in a bed more his size and to manage the girls.

About 2 am I woke up feeling "crampy." Apparently the Cervadil was working! Soon, my crampiness turned into toes a'curling, so Betty offered to get me ready for my epidural. I called Patrick around 4 and he was already up - cleaning the pool! He said that he was just about to leave to come to the hospital. Once he arrived, the anesthesiologist had too and the epidural was given. Not only was it pain free, but soon, I was too. Thank you modern medicine.

We got to watch the sun come up and then my Mom arrived. And a little later, so did Kris. She was back and again my nurse. My contractions were strong and consistent. All was going great. Soon though, they were causing the little guy distress. His low heart rate started trending more frequently with each Pitocin-filled contraction. Enough so, that shortly after 6 pm, Dr. Oliver camped out in the nurses station to monitor the little guy. Poor Patrick watched Carolina play basketball in the dark. With my high fever, darkness seemed to be the only thing that helped me feel better!

Call it intuition, but I had a feeling that I needed to be "camera ready," so from underneath my oxygen mask I mumbled to my mom for my brush, headband and diamond earrings and she then went to work. Bless her because a girl's gotta look her best!

After backing off Pitocin, it was time to see if the baby would take to stronger contractions with a higher amount. Wrong. His heart rate dipped so low that in bursts Kris and another sweet nurse with Dr. Oliver and the anesthesiologist shortly behind. I was given a shot which stopped my contractions immediately and the baby's heart rate bounced back. Hallelujah! He was no longer Angry Baby. But as Kris said, "you've just earned yourself a ticket to the OR." And that's exactly where I headed.

Once in the OR, Mix 1o2.9 was playing overhead and the room was buzzing with busyness. Soon my sweet husband arrived in all of his 6'5" scrub glory and found his place next to me. He was such a comfort. At 8:52 pm, our world changed forever when our sweet angel baby was born. The first thing we heard was Dr. Oliver exclaim, "look at the size of these hands and feet!" And it was at that moment that my husband and I could not have been happier. I closed my eyes and realized that we had just become Mommy and Daddy. God is great.