funny faces

this is what happens when you let someone else use your camera... lots of random shots. I can be paid to remove this blog post! LOL!

the belly shot...

the butt shot...

wait... this is the tree in all it's glory... before unwrapping commenced.

and this is the crazy photographer....

won't be letting her teach Lane this trick...

and in case you were wondering this is a self photo.

Christmas Chaos

Lane was transfixed on Great Grandma

however he was tired of family photo's

Grandma showing Lane his new toy

meeting great Aunt Jeanne

he was given fair warning about great Uncle Greg

even Shannon couldn't wake him up

Lindsay couldn't either..

Christmas Day started off at the Sens and then we went over to Grandma's for dinner and gifts. Lane was much better behaved on Christmas Day and didn't have any meltdowns. That was saved for the arrival at home and blowing out several diapers in a row. At least we didn't experience that in the car! Now back training him to sleep in his own bed and sleep at night and play during the day.

Christmas Eve Surprise

Quick trip to Rochester...

Great Grandma Stapelton & Grandpa Sens with Lane

Tracy & Lane

Great Aunt Jeanette & Lane

Mark's dad was not able to make the trip for Christmas so we made a very quick trip to see him and stayed at Hotel Wegs (thanks Shannon!!!). We stopped by Christmas Eve for a quick visit with Aunt Jeanette and cousin Tracy. Grandma Sens was given a 3 hour advance notice.

Great Grandma Stapleton was very surprised as was Grandpa Sens! Lane was great in the car and it probably helps that it puts him to sleep at this age.

no Christmas for the cats

Pretty sure they made the Time Warner customer service lady's day yesterday. How often do you hear them laugh? Mark was working on adding voice mail to our phone - long story - and he had the phone on speaker. Cali loves to sit under the Christmas tree and sleep. Must think she is outside. Anyway, Mani decided that she needed a bath and started licking her face. This did not go over well as you might imagine. Who likes their face licked? She started snarling and trying to get away and he was not about to let up. A huge brawl ensued and I was sure the tree was going to be knocked over. We were laughing really hard and for a moment forgot about the speaker phone being on. We soon heard laughing over the phone so we had to explain what the ruckus was about and she had to put us on hold to finish laughing. She was still laughing when she came back on. They were so loud and sounded like lions at the zoo. Pretty sure Santa won't be leaving treats under the tree this year for them.

Christmas Lights Outing

(this was taken from the top of a hill in the distance)

One of the locals made the Fox 5 News in NYC last week with their Christmas display. I couldn't stop laughing because the news anchors were sure there was a typo and it had to be in Marlboro, NJ not Marlboro, NY. They had never heard of Marlboro, NY. I am guessing they really live under a rock in Manhattan because who on TV doesn't know Snooki and when they mention Snooki they frequently mention where she is from which can vary from Poughkeepsie to Marlboro on any given day. She is NOT from the Jersey Shore in case you had that fantasy going. I don't know her and won't pretend I do - we just hear stories from people who live around here.

Anyway major digression. Not only did the display make the news it made the newspaper locally - a weekly I might add. Big deal around here. So we bundled up Lane and decided to go check it out. Turns out it was 5 minutes from home. I was pretty sure we were just doing a drive by, but I still resisted putting on some warm pajama pants. Thank goodness I put on real clothes because we did hop out and take some pictures. We met the people who put up the display and he took our picture. They have over 140 hand painted signs of all sorts of characters and a crazy number of flood lights. Many are Disney and cartoon characters - lots of princesses and animals. I am guessing snow makes it look even cooler, but no snow here yet just the cold.

Getting ready to go sporting the hat from Grandma K and the famous fingers in the mouth. There is no preference to which fingers or fist go in just in case you are wondering.

In looking at the photo's now I see how you could take a fun Christmas card picture here with so many characters - see Fred Flinstone and Winnie the Pooh? I can see how kids just love this stop on the lights tour because it is not just lights and music. Santa also had a display, but we didn't wander too much and he was up on a hill of shrubs. Probably for a reason.

careful what you pray for

I only asked for dirty diapers and boy did we get them. The ped said his intestinal tract was a bit immature leading to a huge diaper once every few days. She said it would improve and to try out caffeine. Never got to the caffeine because we have turned the corner. Friday night there was a huge explosion as I was putting him to bed. Huge. Sounded like a bomb going off in his diaper. Much easier to catch it right after it happens is the lesson here. Then he did it one more time in the next hour. Last night in 2 hours he did it 3 times and then woke up with one more that Mark got the pleasure of changing. We've already had one more this morning and also a pee "out". Loads of laundry on tap for today and a bath on the fly.
It's also time to do some diaper homework. I have two types of pampers. One came as a gift and has this grid type mesh to it. They are not my favorites because they stick to his little boy parts and he cries when I change him and pull them off. Its really weird how that happens. The other pampers are dry max and don't have it. Very odd to have different types of pampers. This will take some trial and error. He is between the new born size and size one. Definitely using the size one's at night time to catch all the explosions!

one week and counting

one week old - 12/10/10

snuggle time with dad - love snuggle time with him!

just for grandma - enough pictures already

This week has been spent trying to get Lane to sleep in his bassinet or pack-n-play down stairs. He much prefers to sleep on mom or dad. Wrapping in the Halo sleep sack last night seemed to help a lot along with a bottle of formula before bed. I've also been given the go ahead to drink some caffiene so he will give us a few more dirty diapers. One every three days does not cut it and after the explosion last night I would prefer one a day. The doctor said caffiene gets the intestines going and will help him get the poop out. So do I have a real tea, some Diet Coke or a Peppermint Mocha?

diapers surprises

Probably should have taken some pictures of the diapers that my friends created at my shower for changing Lane at night - they were very cute and we are almost to end of them. They mostly had cute little sayings like "mommy ate beans", "mommy loves diamonds", "pray for mommy". "specially for daddy" and even drawings by Kelley's children. Found those last night and had a good laugh. Those were the fun kind of surprises. The other fun kind that require lots of wipes were just not happening. The doctor suggested sugar water and of course he loves the bottle and it worked the first time we needed to get it all out. The second time was yesterday and it didn't work so we had to get little baby suppositories. He hated that and kept pushing it back out. Sort of funny. The finally time he actually pooped while pushing the little thing out and that was a much easier diaper to change because I held his little butt up and Mark got the wet towels. A diaper wipe just isn't enough.
Also discovered that all Pampers are not created equal. Not sure what happened there, but some of the Pampers that I got are not exactly good soakers and they keep the wet on him. Those won't be used at night time for sure. We have several brands to test out before we buy any more.

Pictures with Grandpa & Grandma K

Grandma & Grandpa in front of the Christmas Tree ... to be decorated this weekend...

Lane is doing great! Wasn't quite getting in enough dirty diapers so I put on a brand new unwashed outfit. It worked! Good thing he will out grow it fast and the pants cover the spill out. No newborn outfits here. His little froggy legs don't exactly stay in the legs of the pants, but oh well they are still cute.

Just having fun with the camera.

He's Here!

Lane Lawrence - 12/3 at 3:33 pm

8lbs. 7 oz. - 20.5 inches long

First picture with Daddy

First picture with Mommy

Grandma & Grandpa Sens
The next morning with Mommy

Time to go home!

Grandma Koenig comes to visit... pics with Grandpa to follow

Hanging out with Daddy

It's been a few days, but at last here are the details and some pictures from those first few days.

Lane Lawrence was born on December 3rd at 3:33 pm weighing in at 8 pounds 7 ounces and measuring 20.5 inches. He's doing just great. My water broke the night before as we were getting ready for bed and we took our time going to the hospital. By the time we got there I was finally feeling it a little. By 3 am it was time for an epidural as they were saying he'd be there by 7:00 am and the doctor was not so fond of my throwing up. He can't deal with puke - go figure. At 7:00 am a new doctor came on - one of my favorites and he could handle it all. He took way longer to arrive than 7:00 am. It was a very busy day at the hospital with 23 new babies - typically there are about 10 a day so when my epi pump broke the nurse kept it very quiet and worked to fix it fast. Not fast enough for me! He arrived sideways after being in the right position the last 2 months. Lane is doing great and enjoying being held by all. More pictures soon.

11 days to go!

Hopefully not more! Spent the day off of bed rest! woohoo! I went shopping to pick up a few last minute items and then out to lunch at Olive Garden. Soup, salad and breadsticks. Just about died when she brought me the whole stinking bowl of salad that normally serves 4 people at dinner. She thought I was anxious to get my soup which it turned out they had just run out of. The replacement was just as good however - something with kale, potatoes and spicy sausage. It was very good.
Looking forward to another quiet weekend now that we have most things done. Mark is working from home tomorrow and we have some errands lined up. Yeah. Maybe lunch out again?

Cat Fantasy

I'm sure every cat has a fantasy over getting his own bed or in this case bassinet. We managed to get it put together last weekend and while it will go in our room we decided that putting it in the baby's room for now was the safest bet. You know to keep it cat hair free. I was doing a few things in there this morning and I found a cat in it! Acting like it's his! I don't think so. I didn't even know he could jump that high since he is a tad lazy.

The first step to keep him out was a blanket over the top. Fail...

The second step was to fill it with blankets and a pillow. Fail...

The third step was to put boxes on top. Skipped that picture.

It worked... and he moved to my chair.

Spoiled.Rotten.Cat.

...is going to have issues when the baby arrives.

Cat Fantasy is ruined.

Thanksgiving Roundup

First off we have the obligatory pre-turkey photo - looks much like an after turkey photo at this point too. We stayed home and went out for Thanksgiving dinner to Torches on the Hudson River. I would like to say the best part was not doing any dishes, but it was really the food. It was very good and we had lots of great things to eat. Pretty much all traditional, but we also got ham and prime rib with the turkey. The best part is not having to eat leftovers all weekend. One meal of leftovers is fine, but after that I'm over it and ready for something else. Ok, honestly not doing any cooking or having to clean up a kitchen after was also wonderful. Instead we spent that time taking naps, watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade and then watching movies after we had dinner. Finally took advantage of our DVD player's ability to connect to the internet and ordered Netflix. Kind of handy to just pull it up and pick out a movie in the queue to watch right away. Also got to put a few in our order queue to be delivered to our house one at a time - mostly Blu-Rays. Tomorrow we will head out to do brave some crowds later in the morning at a few stores. NOT THE MALL!
Baby Hiccup - his most recent name is probably not coming this next week. Hiccups hit at least 2 to 3 times a day. The cats have become even more possessive and are really not going to be happy to have to fight over my lap with the baby.
Mark's excitement for the day was FLURRIES! We had a little bit of snow flurries. Sorry no pictures because the flurries unfortunately (for him) did not stick.
Hope you all enjoyed your turkey day! Happy Thanksgiving!

new camera and a few pics

This doesn't show how much the cover is off after the wind storm the other morning. It was so loud and windy I was sure it was a tornado minus the sirens. At 5:00 am it is not the way to start the day. It sure got us up and downstairs fast.

Trying out the zoom - this is the orchard behind our woods.

36 weeks - 4 days using the timer and showing off the new "do"

Someone needs a pedicure...

so someone got a pedicure and a haircut!

25 days or less to go! Hopefully less!

how to have a baby class

I think they actually call it child birth class, but whatever I prefer to call it how to have a baby class. Anyway we had our class today. Initially she said it was 9 to 5 with a break for lunch in the cafe, but we got done early because Mark and I were really the only ones to ask questions. Might be because we've spent some time there already and I wanted to know how things really work when you are in labor and not just visiting for a 23 hour stay. The first hour of the class was total review for us, which made for some ansty pants in a not so comfy chair. My big concern given we live in the an area big on the all natural ways of life was that we'd only hear about natural child birth and that was quickly put to rest by the nurse teaching the class. She had an epidural with her most recent child so she was able to knowledgeably discuss that topic much to my delight. After watching the various video's I think Mark now has a much better understanding of it all and why I am open to having an epidural. Much less work for him in the end. During the hospital tour the baby decided to act up and she asked if I was having a contraction. Umm... no he's going under my ribs and I was focused on redirecting him down. Then she told a story about a couple ladies ,who during previous tours, ended up being admitted and delivering the day of their classes. I did not want that to be me! He can come tomorrow however if he'd like.
So the highlight of the day was being able to see where they do the buffet for the meals in the maternity unit. In addition to a wonderful selection of food, which I will say is actually good, you can have a great view of the Hudson River while you eat and you can take your baby with you in the little plastic cage thing they call a basinett. They encourage you to eat there to get a break from your room and Mark can also eat with me for free. That is his reward for being a good support person I guess. The sandwiches looked mighty good to me - I can't wait to eat lunch meat again! Cold lunch meat because as you may guess heating it up before eating it is just well gross. A stack of Boar's Head all natural turkey on some really good bread would hit the spot about now - cold not warm!
Now we just need to finish packing our bags and get that car seat installed and we will be good to go. Even if we don't get those things done we are fine. I wouldn't mind another pair of those non-slip blue socks!

UPS Delivers

and delivers and delivers.... to our house. They will not be delivering the baby though. Almost everyday this week I've heard the truck pull up and the guy in the brown uniform run up the steps, drop a box, tap the dooror better yet the handrailing on the steps and run. I actually caught him in the act one day and said hi and think I scared him half to death. Pretty funny. Even more funny is half the time I can't remember what I have coming so that's half the fun of opening the box. There are Christmas gifts for Mark. Christmas gifts for the baby - don't worry I just got him one thing. Mark also got a few packages of his own this week - no idea what. Now I'm just waiting on the camera we ordered - a gift from Mark's parents and it appears that is coming via the USPS (the man in the little white truck who gets many holidays off...) so that might take ages. That will mean a trip to mail box on a daily basis until it comes. I'm hoping they give me the ok to do a little walking soon so I can get this baby moving in the right direction and then I won't have to modify that little rule too. To be honest it's no different than parking the car at the doctors office and walking to their office - right? Thought so.
Something else I've discovered by being on bedrest is that online shopping is the bomb. Great sales and so many choices. Amazon is one of the best. Anna and Emily are getting some cool birthday gifts and all the nieces and nephews will be getting fun stuff for Christmas. No pj's this year unless I find a great sale. Julie and Sean just might get the red stripped pj's.... LOL! Or the pj's with the escape hatch in the rear? Those looked might cool (not!). The best part of online shopping is I don't have to wrap it and someone else mails it for me. AND no trips to the mall, which I really do not like doing. I hate the mall here - not all malls just the one here mostly. I will say that Target no longer requires a quarter to get a shopping cart so hats of to them. The downer is they don't keep the little rider carts charged so that really shortens any sort of shopping trip I might be going on there. I also noticed that Amazon offers free shipping when you buy a certain dollar amount. Bonus.
And for the record I don't spend all day online shopping/browsing I am actually doing some work for work.

31 days to go!

I keep watching the ticker count down and 31 days doesn't sound long right now. In fact if we go 10 more it's a full moon and I would be perfectly fine with this little chunker coming about then. We have the baby class this weekend and I'm hoping they have good seating because I'm used to sitting back in the la-z-boy all day. Sunday I hope to get Mark to move the baby furniture around and put the pictures up on the wall. He's so good at that and I can't do it obviously. This weeks appointment seemed to last forever. First an ultrasound downstairs, then the doctors were goofing around about the name of a baby that one of them delivered the night before.... G-Honor pronounced much like Giana, which I happen to think is pretty, but this poor girl will forever be spelling out her name to everyone. Gee your Honor I didn't mean it. Oh the jokes. Poor thing. Then they started discussing other crazy things parents have done. It's a new office, just not sound proof obviously since I heard it all and was laughing when my doctor finally did come in. Thank godness we choose a normal name. Then they did a stress test on the baby and I had to wait for the machine to become available. At least he is cooperative during them and I only had to be on it for 20 minutes. Next week is the same drill, but the ultrasound should take longer because they want to see how big he is now. I'm guessing over 7 lbs., which is why I'd be happy if he showed up in 10 days.

cool cake

This is my favorite creative shower gift and unfortunately I had to finally take it apart to wash some of the items for the baby. Had to take a picture first! It had baby diapers of course, little blankets, a big blanket, a onsie, bath supplies, baby clipper kit and the monkey blankie on top.

Navy v Notre Dame Game

These pictures got lost for a while. After I got the ok to go back to work for a few hours a day we went to the Notre Dame game at the new Meadowlands Staduim. It included front row parking for suite holders and suite tickets with food and drink included. Water and ginger ale for me - woohoo! So we walked in and took the elevator to our floor - not much walking at all and comfy seats. They had 4 tv's set up in the suite and they whole place is brand new so it's really nice. Pretty sure the game was not what put me back on bedrest. It was the trip to Babies R Us that night that did me in. Rudest sales people ever work at the one near our house. Seriously rude. They make shopping so stressful. Won't be going back there for a really long while and only with a coupon in hand. Anyway the tickets came from Mark's new job and I got to meet the guys he works with - it was all guys so that meant I got to watch the game. Mark won a quarter or two of squares so we actually came out ahead in going to the game. The food was yummy too. Don't ask what I ate - I don't remember it was just good. Pretty sure this was our last outing until the baby comes.

33 weeks