26 February 2010

Introducing...

...the newest edition to the Taylor family, born at 4:46 am on Thursday, 25 Februray 2010, measuring 22 inches long and weighing in at a healthy 8 pounds 10 ounces.......ISAAC WILLIAM TAYLOR!!! 

I figure most of you who are reading this probably knew all that, but I always wanted to introduce someone public-address-announcer-style.  For those who we haven't had a chance to share more details here:

  • Annalee was induced into labor late in the morning on Wednesday. It was long and arduous, but Annalee was amazing. The whole process just reinforced what I always knew: Annalee is SuperWoman!  I've never seen  in person such determination and shear will under such difficult circumstances.
  • Isaac is a big boy (more evidence to mom's superhero credentials) that is perfect in every way (I know I'm biased, but I will argue this point with anyone).  He was really alert right after he was born, looking around and listening to what was going on. He's been eating and sleeping and crying and pooping as he should.
  • As you can see in the pictures, Isaac has a full head of dark hair.  I know that with newborns that it probably will fall out, but I think he's already in the top 2 or 3 for scalp coverage when stacked up against many of the Taylor men in my immediate family. 
  • Last night was a long one. He didn't really cry a whole lot during the day yesterday, but through the night he decided to continually do his screech-owl impersonation. It's pretty good, so mom and dad are running on fumes sleep-wise. From what I'm told, it comes with the territory.
  • Annalee's parents have been around all week and have been a tremendous help with keeping Annalee busy and calm in those last few days of pregnancy, in the delivery room, running errands, walking Marvin, and so much more.  They have been invaluable. Thank you Grandma G and Papaw Sam.

  • All our friends and family have been fantastic with their gifts, well-wishes and the help we have and will continue to receive through this transition into parenthood.  We can't thank you enough.
That's probably enough for now. I know Annalee has bunch she wants to share when she's feeling up to it.  And I also know Isaac is excited to meet all of you.

23 February 2010

Forty weeks and one day...

Good morning everyone! We are still pregnant today. Yesterday we went to the doctor, and she sent us over to the hospital to have a stress test, monitor my blood pressure, and draw some blood. Everything was good. We are now dilated 4 centimeters and having irregular contractions. Our little guy is quite the mover and shaker. He seems to be quite comfortable where he is, so we shall see when he decides to come out!

21 February 2010

And we wait...

Tomorrow is the due date. There have been a few times in the past few days when we wondered if things were going to start happening, but nothing that lasted very long. So at the very least it looks like our little guy will be here no earlier than the due date. The question is how much longer will he wait?  In addition to suspected but mistaken progress, Annalee has in the last few days stated for the first time that she's ready to not be pregnant anymore. Time seems as though it has slowed to a crawl in the last couple weeks. Hopefully we won't have to wait very much longer.

Be sure to vote in the two polls at the right for when the baby will be born, how much he will weigh, and how long he will be. I've set them to stay open until midnight on Monday.

14 February 2010

Thirty-nine weeks and counting...

Tomorrow marks 39 weeks of pregnancy for me. It is hard to believe that it is almost time to meet this little guy. He has already been showered with love and gifts from our colleagues. Both of the schools hosted baby showers for us. We were overwhelmed with all the gifts, great food, and friendship that was shared. I am dilated two centimeters, and we are monitoring my blood pressure daily. We shall see what this week brings!

07 February 2010

Getting Ready...

We're about two weeks out from the due date.  We've spent a lot time in the last few weeks trying to make sure we are ready for our little guy to make his world premiere. Last weekend we packed our bags for the hospital, and tried to take inventory of what we still need and what we still need to do. Through this process I have decided there are two schools of thought on "readiness" when it comes becoming parents:
1) You are never truly ready; you approach readiness without ever actually getting there like some cruel parental-asymptote (a shout-out to my math brethren).
Or..
2) You reach a point where you are as ready as you're going to be and will have to adapt on the fly once he gets here.
 I don't know (or won't admit) which I subscribe to. One could argue that they are really the same, just a glass half full/empty proposition. But I digress...

Last weekend (including a Monday snow day) was also a time for me to finish up projects that I started with our bundle of joy in mind.  In recent weeks we purchased curtains for the nursery and the last of the crib bedding. The curtains are hung, crib made, furniture re-positioned, leaving the baby's room all but done.


I did most of the major work (moved office furniture out, patched walls, took "popcorn" off the ceiling, painted the ceiling white and walls green) in the nursery over the summer after we found out we were expecting. In retrospect that was a smart move because I had much more free time.

Little-by-little we've been adding furniture and trying to get things set-up the way we want. There are still some "small" things to do.  We've got some pictures to hang on the wall  We'd love to get some new bedding for the twin bed to better match the rest of the decor.  We'd still like to add a chair of some sort. In general though, I'm feeling pretty good about it.


My other project was to get the kitchen painted.  I did most of the work over our winter break.  Seemed like a perfect time since we were here for the holidays.

Again I spent a lot of time preparing: patching walls and taking "popcorn" down (whoever thought this stuff was a good idea deserves to be drug out in the street and shot). I got the ceiling painted and the walls painted the blue that was inspired by the tea kettle.

Monday I put the finishing touches on it by cleaning the cabinets real well and adding new knobs to everything. We are really pleased with how it turned out. The difference in there is pretty astounding.  Except for the laundry room, it was the last room in the house to be painted.  It probably should have been one of the first.  We had put it off because we always thought that when we did it we would do a bigger remodel with the floors and countertops. Everything seems so clean and inviting now.  It even makes our ugly floors, cabinets and countertops seem less so. While I was at it, I rearranged some things to make room for some baby stuff in the kitchen and make everything a little more functional.
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Today is Super Bowl Sunday and since we are huge Colts fans we're pretty excited for the game. We did our regular Sunday trip to the grocery, decked out in our Colts gear: I in my Freeney jersey and Colts hat, Annalee in my Manning Jersey, and both of us in our Colts socks. Not too many Colts fans in the Carolinas, so we certainly got noticed.

Marvin of course has his Colts blue collar and leash as well as his rubber
horseshoe (it's the wrong color but he doesn't mind).

 
Our little man got some pretty cool Colts gear for Christmas, but we're glad he won't get to wear it this weekend. Being in the hospital for the Super Bowl would not have been fun. And even if he were at home already there's the whole issue with staying up late when you are already sleep-deprived and holding exuberant screams because someone is sleeping. This will have to do:


 We know he'll be kicking and moving around during the game just like the rest of us.  GO COLTS!