Christmas 2010

Anthony with Santa 2010

Great time for Laura. It has been a few weeks now but Laura has lost all the pregnancy weight and is a pound less than before. She is back to her High School weight.

At jason's. Now when students ask what Laura wants for her gift she says restaurant gift cards. And they bought a bunch

14 pounds 12 oz

Baby it's cold outside. In the 40's. Layers of clothes and ready to go to G & G Dennis'.

Grandma Rice stopped by to see all her grandkids

First trip to Nemos with great uncle Mike, 2nd cousin Steve and great uncle Rick

Too much turkey

Rice Thanksgiving at Golden Corral

Big day for Anthony . Started out as a routine doctor appointment. Since he was born he has had a flatter spot on the side/back of his head. We have tried to turn his head while sleeping per the doctor so it would round out. Now the doctor wanted to make sure the bones haven't grown together before the head rounded out. So he had to get an xray at the hospital. He wasn't real happy being shirtless and being held still. Depending on the x ray we may have to do therapy. We can do it at home though. The therapy would exercise his neck muscles. This would allow more mobility so he would be happy turning his head more in the opposite direction so he will lay on the other side more and round out his head. Will know next week what the next step is.

First trip to Bob Evans

Smiles

Happy Birthday Anthony

Today he is 2 Calendar Months old. I say Calendar Months because last Friday he was 8 weeks old. I guess from now on we count the calendar months. Big party planned. When he gets home.... he will eat then sleep and go to the bathroom. The excitement of a 2 month old

Long Day

Today is Anthony's first day with Grandma and Grandpa Dennis. At home we have a web cam set up so we can check on him if one of us isn't home. I feel out of touch. Today is Laura's first day back to school. Grandma and Grandpa Dennis watched him overnight last night so Laura could get a little extra sleep.

Mom and son day out doing crafts
With Kelly from "Paint Misbehaving"

Guys Night Out

Saturday night Anthony and I had our first guys night out. Well we drove to Famous Dave's to pick up takeout (had a gift certificate) while laura slept. Anthony slept during our adventure.

Anthony's First Photo Album

Click here to view this photo book larger

11 lbs 13 oz. 23in

First lunch with the cousins

First Oktoberfest

First Pumpkin Patch

First Pumpkin Patch

First Pumpkin Patch

First Halloween party

First lunch with grandma and grandpa Dennis

It finally happened

Middle of the night I was changing Anthony... Laura asked me if he peed. I said no. Right then he peed... on my hand. Lucky I already had my hand in the blocking position. I made it 1 month before it happened. I think he and Laura planned it.

Our kids

Anthony's one month b day

Anthony's first meal out of the house. Also laura's first outing in a month. Today he is a month old. We are at Hurricanes in fort myers.

Laura just sent me this photo. She is thinking about taking anthony and Forrest for a walk. Wish I was there.

Already holding his own bottle. Kinda of.

Getting bigger

A little over 21 in. 8lbs 8 oz. Gained 1 pound in 8 days.

First trip to the mall

Big Day

It's 4am and Anthony's Umbilical cord just fell off. No pain just like the doctors said. Now we have one less thing to look after. What will the next milestone be? Being Potty trained, walking, talking, mowing the grass. Any of these sound good.

Anthony's two week birthday present

Birthday celebration

Spending my birthday with Anthony and putting my new car together

Mom, grandma and great grandma

NO MORE PHOTO THERAPY

We finally heard back from the doctor at 645p that he no longer needs photo therapy. We also don't have to get any more blood tests. No pain for him with the photo therapy, he was just attached to a 2.5 ft cord for the last three days 24/7

The life of a baby

Today's bilirubin count was 17... down from 19 yesterday . Another blood test tomorrow

Glow in the dark baby

Anthony has jaundice so we have to keep him on the photo blanket for a few days. His bilirubin count was 19 which is a little high. Went again this morning for another bilirubin test. Results at 1 o'clock

Funny Night four activity.

So laura got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. I was perfectly asleep. Then... boom, splat, thump thump hit etc. I woke up looked in the bathroom without my glasses and all I see is her shoe four feet off the ground like she was kicking something. I quickly asked if she was ok thinking she fell and she was trying to keep her balance. She saw a palmetto bug in the bathroom and grabbed one of her crocks out of the closet to smack it. I am pretty sure by the noise that she missed the first 10 times then finally crushed it.

Day 5

Sleep has been cut in half. Luckily for me, Laura doesn't wake me up much at night to help out. She figures that she is up to feed him so why wake me up. Jackpot! :) Of course that wasn't the case in the middle of the night Tuesday. All I hear is... "wake up wake up" in a soothing voice. So I woke up and asked "what do you need?" Maybe it was more like "What the heck do you want?" She said "oh not you, I am talking to Anthony." Overall Laura has been great overnight. 

Anthony sleeps for about 2 hours. Then spends 30 minutes awake staring at what ever is closest then wants to be changed or is hungry. Tuesday evening we messed with his schedule. We woke him up to take photos (posted later) so he wasn't very happy all evening. Laura was getting very frustrated. Neither of us could calm him down. Finally he decided it was time to eat after acting like a baby for 2 plus hours. Hopefully today he will be back on track.

Tuesday was the first doc appointment. He slept most of the time. Car rides don't wake him up. Most everything was fine. He is a little jaundiced. Wednesday we have a Quest appointment to do another test to find out how jaundiced he is.

He can't mow the grass just yet. I give him a few more days. 

The life of an infant. Wrapped up like a burrito just waiting for the next event... Food or bathroom

Our first doctors appointment

Heading home

Almost ready

Anthony is having his last feeding and then we are off to the house
Sent from my iPhone

Last Lunch

We have been cleared. After we and Anthony eat we are heading home. Laura's doc said her numb leg is a one patient a year thing . It will go away.

9_19_2010

I had a nice night, of course I didn't have to feed Anthony Every 2 or less hours. Laura got a couple short naps overnight then another 40 minute nap after the sun came up. She was hungry all night long. She kept raiding the food area. Anthony has been cleared for take off. Waiting on Laura to get clearance. Don't think we will be out of here at 11am like we were supposed to.
Now it is time to pack up.

Saturday the 18th 2010

8am 9_18_2010 and a doctor from our Pediatrician's office was in to check on Anthony. A quick 3 minute look over and he said everything is fine. Wonder what he is charging per minute?
A few nurses came in and out checking to make sure everything is going ok. Now it is 1030 and I walked down to the truck to get some stuff. Then I noticed my uncle Mike was driving through the parking lot. We walked up so he could meet Anthony.
     At 1130 I had an appointment to get the free scope on how to install and maintain a car seat. Lots of adjustments that I was unaware of.  When I got back from that the hearing test was going on. They hook up a machine to his ears and forehead. The ear piece sends out a faint sound in each ear. (apparently you hear in one ear at a time when you are an infant until a few weeks) He was sleeping during this test. The machine reads brain waves. So when he hears a sound in one ear the computer read 100 percent for that ear then shut down that side the only sends to the other ear. Then that reading went to 100 percent and the test was over. 20 minutes max. He was awarded his first certificate. Getting awards and he is only one day old. I know everyone is impressed. lol.
      Lunchtime in the cafeteria. Pizza. Not bad for hospital food. Wished I lived closer, I might have to eat here on a regular basis. Cheap and good food.
After lunch he was finally ready to have his circumcision . Our babies doctor Nancy Redeker was backed up. She already delivered a baby and had 5 circumcisions lined up for the day. Doesn't take long. Then the nurse had to show us how to clean it.
Anthony was napping so we decided it was time for us too. 40 minute nap was nice. Then the nurses came in to check on him.
Shortly after Uncle Chad, Lori, Sabrina and Kyla came to visit. A few minutes later Chad, Christen and Lauren came in. We had a party. I think we were over the 3 visitor limit.
Later, Grandma and Grandpa Dennis stopped by to visit. Then Lori B a friend from Laura's work stopped in.
Then G and G Dennis decided to head home. About 1 minute later they came back. They found Great Grandma Rice in the hallway looking for our room. After 8 kids too many grand kids to count and a hand full of great grand kids she hopped right in without missing a beat and held Anthony for a while.
Somewhere during all the visitor lauras food arrived. Lasagna... which was weird because we were missing my cousin Julia and her fiance Kurts wedding shower and the were having lasagna.
Every since Laura gave birth her right thigh was numb and her knee was a little week. They decided to do an MRI. So around 715p
they pick Laura up in a wheel chair for it. The left side of the headphones were broke so the noise was overwhelming. Laura had them stop and pull her out so she could put in some earplugs. She was gone 75 minutes. That means I was left with a crying baby for the first time by myself. I am pretty sure some came in and stopped the clock cause it felt like forever. Anthony cried for a while cause he was still hungry. Not much I can do about it. I checked the diaper and thank goodness he didn't poop. Just pee.I changed him for the first time all by myself. Wrapping him back up in the blanket is the hardest thing to do. Tighter the better. He slept for about 20 minutes. Then woke up and cried. So I held him again. 70 minutes Laura had been gone and I was hopping she would hurry up so I wouldn't have to change a stinky diaper. I finally decided I should check. Sure enough he made a mess. It wasn't too bad by myself. We had been tag teaming the diapers, I was the jack man and she changed the tire. I set everything up and she changed him. The second I snapped the last button, Laura came back. Good timing. On her way back in the elevator, it stopped and shock vertically. Then nothing. Finally the door opened and they were on the correct floor. She asked the guy pushing the wheel chair if that happens a lot. He said no and he was taking the stair from now on.
A quick visit from the anesthesiologist about her numb leg. He said it happen. Will heal in time. The MRI test will be back in the morning.
The rest of the night was feeding, burping and changing diapers.

Who needs sleep?

Friday was a long day. Of course we didn't know what to expect. A little crying and a diaper change late in the day made for what we thought was a long day. Overnight we learned the first day is the easiest.

We tried to nap Friday since at that point we had been up for pretty much 24 hours. Nurse after nurse after nurse came in to visit. We thought we were royalty. Then shift change and we had a whole new group of nurses. They were all helpful and ready to answer questions.

The grandparents stayed all  night . Grandpa Rice and Dennis had to leave to go to work early. Both Grandmas and Grandpa Dennis (he came back) finally got their chance to visit around 8ish. Then it was time to feed or try to feed. Didn't really work out. We tried to nap in the morning but with all the nurses in and out it was hard. Then we all fell asleep about 11:30. Around noon... Knock knock knock, here comes the nurse and she said our upstairs room was ready. We were packed and out of there in four minutes. New room means new nurses. It started all over again. Finally we decided that sleep was going to have to wait until night time. (yeah right)

Early afternoon Lee and Judy came to visit. A little later Grandma Rice, Great Grandma Tennison, Marilynn and Dick stopped by.
Nap time... nope.
We decided it was time for his first non hospital outfit. He was dressed up and waiting for visitors. About 30 minutes later Shane, Candi and Chris (Candi's mom) stopped by. Candi and Shane are expecting in April 2011 so this was their first chance to see and hear what they had gotten into. Another knock, It was Doug on his way to go line dancing. He reminded us that we still had time to make it to the dance floor. Then Grandma and Grandpa Rice stopped by. When they left they volunteered to stop by Publix for a sub and bring it back since the cafeteria was already closed. I went to the lobby to pick up dinner but picked up another visitor. Cathy, Laura's childhood bes friend. Then grandma and grandpa Dennis stopped by.

10pm and it is time to get some sleep. Well, maybe not. Anthony couldn't decided if he want to poop, pee, eat or was just cold.
They were all tested every 20 minutes. Sometime early Saturday morning the nurse came in and said she was taking him to sit under the heat lamp and check his breathing.... all right, we get to sleep. We think maybe an hour (which was an eternity) she had him. Then the door opens and he was crying. Like the death cry. Scarred both of us. She dropped him off and left. Guess it was time to sink or swim for us.
An hour later he went back to sleep... for 10 minutes. In the middle of the night a babies scream is very loud and jarring. Time for food, this time the lactation specialist walked in. Perfect timing. She was able to offer some tips that helped.
Another knock, it was the pediatrician. Wait a minute, it was 8 am. We all three slept for 90 minutes. Wow.

Breakfast and more diaper changes. Wait, more cries... but it was coming from another room. We were very happy to hear that it wasn't just Anthony with the death cry. Life is better knowing this.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Rice

Anthony

9/17/2010 6:19am 20in 7.2 lbs

About 4am the doctor arrived since laura was 9.5 cm. The epidural was in full effect. No pain. 4:50 She finally started to push. the first hour was slow. The last 30 minutes showed real progress. At the end, Laura got to reach down and  pull Anthony out. Then I cut the cord. Grandma and Grandpa Rice and Dennis stayed all night waiting for some news. Anthony is healthy and just got his first bath. He is under the food warmer now.

About 11pm Thursday