One Month Old

It's hard to believe Evan is already one month old. I recently heard someone say that when it comes to parenting the days are long but the months and years are short. I think that's definitely true. Some days over the last month have seemed really long, but looking back time seems to have flown by. Here are some more pictures from the last month. One of the highlights of the past week has been my parents coming to visit and my mom was able to stay for a week. Wow, what a blessing! She was a great help around here--cooking, rocking Evan, and keeping me company. Thanks to my dad for holding down the fort at home so mom could stay with us. Evan loved seeing his grandparents!

Evan seems to be growing well. He already feels a lot heavier to me. He's also recently begun cooing a little. So cute!


Meeting Mommy for the first time


Our first family photo


With Aunt Robyn at his first restaurant outing


Aunt Helene and soon-to-be Uncle Jorge came to visit too


Hanging out with Daddy


Getting words of advice from Grandpa Pieper


Time with Grandma Pieper


Hanging out in the swing

Evan Webb in his first car ride home from the hospital, he isnt too sure about this heat!

Well, we finally have a breather to put up a few pics, more to come. We have yet to take an official family photo, maybe over the next day or so.

All are doing very well, thank you for your thoughts and prayers! Evan can't wait to meet you!

Amy, Evan and Amy's brother, mom, and dad.

Grandma Webb holding Evan.

The brand new Grandparents: Grandma and Grandpa Pieper!

ETA 1 week and video posts!

Well, we can hardly wait for Itty Bitty. 39 weeks as of yesterday, Amy is starting to get a little uncomfortable.

We have added video posts on youtube, which you can see on the right hand side of the blog.

regards,

Patrick

The Nursery is Finished!

Itty Bitty's room is finally complete! Yesterday Patrick and I (mostly Patrick) finished hanging the last few wall decorations and curtains. We're really pleased with how it turned out. I think it has a very calm feeling about it.

above window

Thanks to our wonderful family and friends, baby Webb already has a very well-stocked library of children's books.

Only about 19 days to do! All the major preparations have been done--car seat installed, nursery complete, clothes washed, hospital bag (mostly) packed. Now it's just a waiting game. We go to the doctor tommorrow so hopefully we'll know more after that. At last check, Itty Bitty was actually head down (unlike the previous visit). Let's hope he's stayed that way.

Baby Shower for Itty Bitty

It was quite an eventful weekend here. On Saturday my wonderful family and friends hosted a baby shower for me and Itty Bitty. It was so nice to have all my female friends and family together in one place to help welcome our son. Having all these ladies together at one time doesn't happen very often. I was overwhelmed by everyone's thoughtfulness and generosity. The theme was children's books so Itty Bitty has quite a library already setup thanks to everyone's contributions of books, in addition to lots of other wonderful gifts. Here are just a few of the highlights.

Cake made by my talented sister-in-law

My mom and me

My mom, me, my mother-in-law

Two of my oldest friends--I've known them since kindergarten!

Blanket made by my maternal grandmother

Quilt made by my mother-in-law

Handmade baby carrier made by my brother's mother-in-law

Blanket made by my friend Amy

All the hostesses went together to get the nursery bedding--Yeah!

Thanks to everyone for a wonderful baby shower! We are so blessed.

33 Weeks

Well, we're down to single digits now folks. Only about 7 more weeks to go (9 at the most). Here's a picture from this weekend and guess what, I'm not wearing black. I do look tired in this picture but I'm really not. I've still been feeling really good, except for an occasional less-than-comfortable night. I have added a little more decoration to the nursery, as you can see from the letters above the dresser. There's still a little more decorating to do, but it's coming together. 

Itty Bitty is still moving around a lot. Sometimes he kicks so hard my whole belly shakes! Some of you have probably been wondering about a name, since we know we can't call him Itty Bitty forever. Well, I think we have pretty much decided on a name, but we are keeping it a secret. We decided since we already found out the sex of the baby, it would be fun for the name to be a surprise.  

We've been busy the last few weeks taking childbirth classes and getting things ready around the house. I've been cooking like crazy to try to have quite a few meals frozen so we won't have to cook when baby arrives. One of my goals this week is to pack my bag for the hospital. At childbirth class they warned us to get our things ready early just in case baby decides to make an early arrival.  I have my next check up with the doctor tomorrow so let's hope everything is on track.

Easter 2009

On Sunday we celebrated a beautiful Easter! It started out stormy and I feared we were in store for a dreary day, but the clouds cleared just in time for church. We enjoyed a great day together and even took a walk in the park in Georgetown (after Patrick's bike ride). Here's a couple of pictures we took while we were still in our "church clothes." This week marks 30 weeks of the pregnancy.

You'll notice in one of the pictures Patrick has a surprised/shocked look on his face. This is because he just realized that Itty Bitty will be here in only about 10 weeks :) Just kidding. We were just trying not to squint in the sun. By the way, I do own maternity clothes in colors other than black. It just seems that every time we take a picture I happen to be wearing black. 

We started our childbirth classes last week and we think we're going to like them. They're offered at the hospital where we'll have the baby. It's called Prepared Childbirth so it's not technically Lamaze it's closer to that than any other method I've read about (like the Bradley method). We decided on this class because they cover everything--both relaxation/breathing techniques and they also inform you of all the medical interventions possible. Although I hope to avoid a lot of medication or medical intervention, we figured it would be good to be informed about the options so that at least we wouldn't be in the dark if decide to use them. Personally, I'm trying to keep an open mind about the labor process. I've heard so many women say they wanted to have the baby naturally and then they later decided to get an epidural and they felt like a failure. I want to avoid that. My thinking is: I've never had a baby before; I've never even had a broken bone so I really don't know what my pain tolerance will be. If I absolutely can't handle the pain, I don't mind getting an epidural, but I'm going to try to avoid it if I can. 

We also recently picked a pediatrician. He came well-recommended by several friends so hopefully we'll like him also. Apparently he has 5 kids of his own so he definitely has a lot of experience. 

I've been working on decorating the nursery so I'll post pictures when that is complete. Only 10 weeks to go!