Visitors from Afar

Several visitors have come from afar to see the new babe...

Great-Aunt Denise (Nathan's Aunt) and Great-Uncle Jim traveled 3 hours from Columbia, SC to visit Cooper the day after his birth. We thoroughly enjoyed their visit and hope they are able to visit again soon.


Monday night after we arrived home from the hospital, Grammie (Chrystal's Mom) came to stay. She will be taking care of us for just over 2 weeks. Aren't we lucky (spoiled)? Cooper loves his Grammie and already responds to her voice.

Daddy's Boy

Proud Pappa....

Cooper and Momma

Cooper and his Momma...need I say more?

Cooper's First Bath

While Mommy was in recovery, Daddy was playing paparazzi at Cooper's first bath. He was not a fan of being photographed in such a personal setting. (Or maybe he was cold, hungry, and wanted his Momma's womb.)

There has been some debate about the color of Cooper's hair. He is not a true "carrot" red, but there is some red in it--more of a strawberry blonde. But there is definitely some red--takes after his Daddy.
Once the bath was over and he had put up a good fight, he was ready to just sit back and relax.

Announcing Cooper James Smith

Cooper James Smith made his debut at 2:51 am on Friday 9/25/09 (40 weeks and 2 days in the womb). After 16 hours of non-medicated labor, and 2 hours of pushing, the doctors decided that he was just too big to be pushed out through momma's hips. So an emergency c-section was done and he was brought into the world. He was bright eyed and content once they cleaned him up.

He weighed in at 9 lbs. 1 oz., and was 20-1/2" long. The circumference of his head was 14-1/2". No wonder he wouldn't fit! We are so happy he is here.

This is our first family photo, taken moments after his birth.

D-Day...B-Day?

Today was my due date (D-day)--40 weeks of pregnancy. I am convinced that no woman should have to be pregnant this long. Here's Tater Tot on what was supposed to be his birthday. Too bad he missed the party. Guess he'll be arriving late.

For the last 6 weeks I've been working from home. Funny that 6 weeks ago I was on bed rest trying to get the little guy to stop from coming too early. Now I'm trying to get him to not come too late. Funny how things change.

So 6 weeks ago I started working from home in bed. This is much what I looked like, albeit with a slightly, and I do say SLIGHTLY smaller belly. This position in bed is much more comfortable at this point than sitting at the desk where I constantly bump my belly on the keyboard tray, which hurts, or have my feet swell after sitting too long, or have the baby sitting right on my bladder...you get the picture... So today I resumed the semi-reclining position in bed with the laptop. Over the last 6 weeks the laptop has been getting farther and farther from me. Due to the pregnancy-induced carpel tunnel, I have to refrain from using the laptop keyboard and mouse as much as possible, which presents a conundrum...where to put the mouse?

Today I found the perfect mouse pad...

And as you can see, even when I don't need the mouse, it sits just perfectly as it would on any other mouse pad. Nathan found this hilarious.

Still baking...

Just a quick post to let you all know that Tater Tot is still in the oven. There are signs that he may be making his debut "soon," but I am beginning to really feel that I will be pregnant forever. Maybe I will be the first woman ever to raise her child entirely in utero. The doctor said on Friday that she thought I would deliver this weekend. I told her I didn't believe her because that's what she said LAST week.

So here I am, skipping another day of church due to contractions that started yesterday morning, went most of the day, stopped for a bit, and then picked up last night as we were out. I had over an hour of 7-minute apart contractions that were...HUGE...to say the least. Nothing like I'd had before. I thought for sure it was finally going to be the real thing. Hah. Nope.

Went to bed at 1 am exhausted from the contractions. Woke up at 3:17, 4:47, 4:54...you get the picture. I finally gave up and just got up since I couldn't sleep through them any more. Drifted off to sleep on the couch about 6:30, woke up again and again, finally gave in and went back to bed at 9 am. Woke up about 5 times from contractions while trying to sleep. Finally gave up at 11:30 and, well, here I am.

It has been POURING rain all night and morning and it's finally stopped enough that maybe I can get out and go for a walk. Better take advantage of the break in the storm while I can.

We have 2 days until D-day. Anyone want to bet that I'll go over? ;o)