Happy One Month!

Today Collin turns one month old. Time flies! He is growing so fast. Yesterday he had his doctor checkup -- Weight: 10 pounds; Length: 22.5 inches.

He no longer fits into "newborn"-sized clothes, and some of the "0-3 months" things are getting too short. What an eater!

Here are some fun photos from this past week:

Pushing a Poo

Mommy's New Man

Our Little MonkeyShhh! I'm Sleeping

We are having so much fun learning and growing together. Happy One Month, Collin!

Collin's Blessing

Today Collin turned 4-weeks old, and we blessed him in sacrament meeting. Grandpa Morello and Papa Williams stood in the circle while Ryan pronounced the blessing.

Our little man

Everyone
Morellos
Williams
The Women (and Collin, of course)
The Men

We are so grateful for the priesthood and eternal families. We are also grateful for our loving family who is always willing to travel long distances to share in our special family milestones. We are especially grateful for our little Collin: for his health and strength and sweet, mild temperament.

Happy Two Weeks!

So we are now among those obsessed parents who photograph the child day and night. Here are some fun pictures we took to celebrate his two-week birthday.

He likes to strike funny poses. We call this his GQ pose.

Awesome, huh?

Collin will only sleep during the day if he is being cuddled (luckily this hasn’t transferred to his night-time sleeping yet). He likes to be hugged and to lie on Daddy’s chest.

This is how they fell asleep watching football on New Year’s Day.

We spent some time this week before Dad has to return to work having a little photo shoot.

We would have gotten more family photos, but Collin soaked his little outfit. Good times.

And here’s one last picture of our chipmunk.

Jaundice

Sorry that we haven't posted more in the last week. Our first week of parenthood has been... too eventful.

We were discharged from the hospital in time for Christmas, but unfortunately we were re-admitted on Christmas Day for Collin's jaundice. We are all home now but may have to return for additional treatments. Each day we have had to return to the hospital for Collin to be tested, and then we anxiously await our doctor's call to see what steps need to be taken. It is quite frustrating since we've been given very little instruction on how to help him other than to feed him.

It looks like Ryan may have left out Collin's vitals at birth in the last post:

Weight: 7 lbs 13 oz

Length: 20.5 inches

But at the doctor's yesterday he already weighed 8 lbs. 8 oz., so you can imagine what kind of eater he is!

Please keep our little Collin in your thoughts and prayers. He's had a rough first week.

We are loving every minute of parenthood, and he is an absolute joy. It has been challenging, but we wouldn't change anything for the world.

Baby Knows Best

It is my pleasure and privilege to introduce Collin Daniel Williams, first-born and soul heir to the Williams family fortune.

So, after all of our worrying and belly-aching (and aching bellies) about being in the hospital during Christmas, inducing labor, etc., our little man decided enough was enough. After a surprisingly pleasant 9 hours of labor, and a relatively quick 2 hours of pushing, Collin was delivered at 11:44 am Sunday morning, and the miracle of life began.

As you can see, Lindsey is doing amazingly well, and Collin is, of course, perfect. We are enjoying a few days of rest and recuperation in the hospital, and we will be going home to spend Christmas will G-ma and G-pa Morello and Uncle Jared. We are so happy to have him here, and eternally grateful for the best Christmas present we could ever have hoped for.

The moral of the story is: Don't question the baby's (or the Lord's) timing. We've stressed our selves out twice now worrying about dates and timing, and both times everything has worked out perfectly.

Well, enough of my rambling....I know you really just want to see pictures, so here are a few more...

Brand 'spankin' new

A hint of a smile

Zonked out on the warming table

Happy Birthday or Merry Christmas?

0 Days

What do you blog about when your Baby Ticker reads 0 days? What will it say tomorrow? +1?

No, I bet it'll just sit at zero until I delete it's computer code. Maybe I should just delete it today, so I'm not so disappointed tomorrow...

Yep, you guessed right: today is my due date. Yet here I sit blogging in front of my home computer. Yesterday I thought I had my last doctor's appointment, but (unfortunately) they scheduled me another one for Monday, December 22nd.

I haven't dilated anymore than before (3), despite having contractions about 10-minutes apart for a few hours on Tuesday night. I even got up and took a shower and they continued, until I was waiting for the next one... and woke up an hour later.

Waiting, waiting... I'm not a good wait-er.

39 Weeks

Baby Update:

I have had a chronic cough for almost 3 weeks now. Last week the OB said I could take a cough suppressant, but I decided that would really just cover the underlying problem (which was still unknown).

Anyway, I kept thinking I was getting a cold, but the runny nose, stuffy ears, and yucky head never came. Yesterday I went to meet our family physician for the first time (she's going to be our pediatrician too), and she looked in my nose, throat, and ears and then listened to me breath and declared... no congestion. Then WHY, I asked with obvious impatience, do I have the nastiest sounding cough in the world?

Her reply: acid reflux. Did anyone else out there know that heartburn could cause a chronic cough? And what is the remedy: Delivery. And that, my friend, is my number goal right now: getting my little guy out.

I also had an OB appointment yesterday (that's right: got weighed, measured, blood-pressured, poked and prodded at twice in less than an hour). The great news: I am dilated to a 3, and I am 50% effaced. They still scheduled me an appointment for next week and told me not to get my hopes up, but it is hard not to.

I'm ready buddy; make your debut! Otherwise, I may be shunned from society as a carrier of the plague.

Thoughts

Picture Perfect

I love having a fireplace to hang with our cute little stockings in a row. We even bought some of those environmentally-friendly logs in a box to burn every once in a while.

We decided we'd keep our "mini-tree" as our only tree for at least one more year. I think it looks quite cute standing guard there in the corner.
This is our tribute to Caterpillar.
Fireplaces, Christmas trees, stockings, Charlie Brown movies, hot chocolate, Christmas lights, candles... These things make me happy.

Week 38

When I got home from Seminary today, I was feeling huge and thought it would be a good day to take some more pregnancy photos.
It's funny - now looking at myself - I don't think I look nearly as humongous as I feel. The last week or so I have been feeling all the uncomfortable parts of carrying around my 6 lb. 11 oz. friend: lower back pain, sore feet and calves, pressure behind my hips, pain in my ribs, difficulty catching my breath, a constant need to use the restroom...

And all the while, my little guy is poking and jabbing and moving and grooving. I'm glad he's comfortable. I don't know how much longer my body can survive being beat up.

Engineer-In-Training

Ryan and I have been emailing back and forth all day.

* * *

To My Engineer -
I just "built" a box to ship Kim's buckeyes to her. There was a piece of cardboard lying on the floor in the basement from the water softener, and I cut it and molded it and taped and taped and taped. I am so proud of myself.

Love - Your Not-so-Little Engineer-in-Training

PS: Who needs to buy a box at the post office in a car anyway!? Maybe I can learn to do more things around here, and we could just have one car... Or maybe not.

* * *

Hey Babe!

Sounds like I'm rubbin' off on you after all. Pretty soon you'll be out in the garage fixing the car yourself... Or maybe not (tee hee).

Love Ya!

-Proud Husband of my Not-as-big-as-she-thinks Engineer-in-training

Buckeyes!

We have an annual tradition in our home of spending the Friday night before the big Ohio State - Michigan rivalry football game making tasty peanut butter and chocolate buckeye sweets. We have converted many friends into Buckeye fans over the years, and this year was no exception.

In fact, we were lucky enough to spend the evening with good friends visiting from Madison.

What a wonderful weekend! Go Buckeyes!

35 weeks down... 35 days to go.

What a neat coincidence - the double 35, that is.

I went to the doc again today. They estimate his weight at about 6 pounds 4 ounces, which is crazy to me, since many babies are born at that weight. Oddly, his femur length is now lagging behind his other body measurements, but the tech says it is common for certain things to grow quickly and then lag while other parts catch up.

He is still averaging right at about 35 weeks, whereas my belly is now measuring at 33 weeks. I figure that's close enough! I am now into weekly doctor's appointments (ugh!), but at least I know that means he'll be here sooner. My last ultrasound is scheduled for the day before Thanksgiving, and then... the waiting game.

Yesterday I asked the doc how early they would allow for an elective induction. As of now, the necessity for an induction based on a medical need is not likely (which I am grateful for), but I didn't know my docs' policy for electing to be induced. I know some offices have a mandatory 41-week rule.

Now you ask, why would she WANT to be induced? (No, I am really not all that uncomfortable... yet.) To be honest, it all centers around convenience. My due date is exactly one week before Christmas. Our anniversary is two days after Christmas. Bottom line: We are VERY interested in having this little guy out and home before these two "holidays."

So, I asked the doc the question. The answer? Apparently, there is a correlation between emergency c-sections and inductions of women with first babies, so my doctor's office strives to avoid inducing for non-medical reasons as much as possible. Oh no!

And now I put the questions to you: What are your thoughts on induction, specifically first baby induction? Am I being selfish to try to "schedule" his birthday around Christmas and our anniversary? Does anyone have experience with pitocin-contractions vs. natural-contractions? If you were induced for non-medical reasons, how long after your due date did they make you wait/did you choose to wait?

Yes, I am full of questions... and hopefully, you will be full of comments! Bring 'em on.

Peoria Baby Shower

Last weekend my new friends here in Peoria threw me a Baby Shower. It was perfect: one simple game, great new friends, delicious breakfast casseroles, good conversation, and wonderful gifts.

Unfortunately, I handed my new camera to a friend unaware that Ryan had been messing with the settings the night before, and this is how all my photos turned out:

It is a cool setting (you can pick whatever color you want for it to grab), but it is kinda strange for people shots.
Agree?

Thankfully, one of the hosts was also taking pictures, and she saved the day and gave me all her photos.
Anyone know of someone more excited about diapers!?

This gift was probably the hit of the party. It is a growth chart to hang on the wall, and she even matched the colors to Baby’s room. I love it!

Thanks everyone for coming! We had a great time.