Tough couple of days for mommy and Grant

We spent some time at the doctors the last couple of days.  On Monday I went in to try find out the cause of some intense pain I was having.  Turns out I had an abscess caused by a bacterial infection in my sutures...not fun.  Then today, our doctor performed a circumcision on Grant as well as a newborn test that required baby boy's foot being pricked.  Needless to say, he has had a rough day.  So for the next few days, he and I are going to try to take it easy.  Here is his  "taking it easy" look.  Poor lil guy...

Sleepy boys

This is too cute; I had to share!

Pops and Grant a.k.a. Grandpa's Little Sidekick

Happy 1 week birthday lil' guy!!!!

More photos from week 1

First stroll around the block

Mommy, Grammie and Grant tried out the carrier today and had a good time outside in the rare Seattle sun.  To stay warm, G Man rocked his fuzzy bear outfit.  Too cute...

Grant and family

Grant and Grammie Cindy taken Sunday, G Man and his Auntie Sherri taken tonight.  Can't believe he is already 3 days old!

Mr. GQ

Grant isn't even a day old and already has had a photo shoot. To see his pictures go to www.bellababyphotography.com. Click "View Photos" and enter password jtho0217lewallen

First photo

This is Grant at 13 hours old.

Grant Hayes Lewallen has arrived!

After a very eventful Thursday night and today, Grant Hayes Lewallen joined us Friday, February 17th at 7:45 PST. Coming in at 8 lbs & 19 inches, both Grant and mom are doing great! We'll definitely have pictures of the little guy posted tomorrow.

At the hospital again...

We went to L and D triage around midnight.  Stayed for about 5 hours, mainly spent walking.  Around 4 they checked me and I was only 3.5 cm dialated with my bag of water still intact.  Back home we were sent (with a shot of morphine).  Rather than helping with pain, the morphine really got things moving.  By 10am I was having contractions every 3 minutes and was 6 cm (sure nice our doctor is across the street from the house)!  Anyways back to the hospital we went.   Epidural is in and my water has broke...now we just wait! 

Getting Ready for Baby

Baby boy will not only have his own nursery, but he also has a whole setup in our room.  To reduce the odds of SIDS, experts recommend keeping babies near you at night for the first 6 months.  We will see if we can actually make it the 6 months with the pack n play, but its worth giving it a try!  

38 weeks (and 2 days)

The belly is still growing...

37 weeks (and 5 days)

Here is Jimmie in front of the baby's tree. We sure hope he likes it...it only took us over 3 hours to put up! ;-) Big items left on the checklist: Install car seat, set up bassinet in our room, clean the house, file our taxes, and have this baby!

Important: Please read if coming to Seattle

I know expectant moms can be paranoid, but I just watched a story on the local news tonight that got me thinking. Whooping cough is on the rise in the Seattle area, and unfortunately babies can't be immunized until after 6 weeks. So I am going to pass on the reporter's suggestion to all friends and family that will be around the baby his first six weeks: please consider getting the TDap (Whooping Cough) vaccine. I got mine during pregnancy and will certainly encourage Jimmie to do the same. Thanks for your consideration!
Link to the news story: Whooping cough on the rise in state

36 weeks (and 5 days)

Only two days to go until we are "full term"! That said, this weekend we started putting together our overnight bag so we will be good to go once he decides to make his appearance! Speaking of when he gets here, we plan on posting pictures to the blog from the hospital. So, plan to check back here for all things Baby Lewallen.

On a separate note, Jimmie and I wanted to share a virtual tour of our house so those that haven't been here can imagine life inside our tall box. The tour starts in our guest bedroom, which is technically underground, then moves up to our split ground floors (the backyard and garage). The nursery is a set of stairs up from the garage, with the kitchen and living room above that. The final set of stairs takes you to our master suite, which now contains our office and will also serve as a nursery during the baby's first couple of months. **Note: the house was not cleaned prior to filming this video so please disregard the large piles of dirty clothes, recyclables, mail and whatever else we had stacked up. Thanks! :-)**

Work Baby Shower

Today my co-workers at UPS threw baby and I a very nice shower. My marketing team spoiled us with a MamaRoo swing. Baby L is going to love it!

35 weeks (and 5 days)

This week was an interesting one in Seattle. It started out with a snow & ice storm that kept us home for a couple of days, included Jimmie getting and accepting a job offer with Nordstom Corporate, and ended with an unnecessary trip to Urgent Care where I was diagnosed with a viral eye infection that can't be treated with medicine. All in all it was a pretty good week!

In addition to all of the excitement, we continue to nest. Today we purchased safety equipment for the house (carbon monoxide monitors and fire extinguishers) and went to the drugstore to prepare for my post partum return home (thanks Steph for all the great recommendations!)

I can't believe that the lil' guy will be here in about 4 weeks! Speaking of his arrival, thanks to everyone who took the due date poll. Results: 50% thought he will get here on time, 33% thought early, and 16% thought late. My hunch is a couple days to a week early, but what do I know? :-)

Snow Day!!!! (well work from home day)

View from our living room.  It has been snowing for the last 9 hours, and it isn't planned to stop anytime soon!

34 weeks (and 5 days)

What a busy week Baby Boy had! Not only did his Grammy & Pops (aka Cindy & Cal) come up, but we visited the doctor, went on a hospital birth tour, worked on the nursery, and were treated like royalty at a baby shower. Oh and I can't forget to mention we got our first snow of the winter too! Big thanks to my folks for their help with the nursery, and my friends Toti and Carolyn for a extremely nice shower!

33 weeks (and 5 days)

Nesting has started! This weekend Jimmie and I began working on the nursery. Rather than just getting our to-do list done (which stopped at cleaning out the room), we went ahead and put the dresser and crib together! Still lots to do as you can see in these pictures. The nursery is definitely a work in progress...


I wanted to share one more photo showing how pretty it was in Seattle today. Here is the zoomed in view from our master bedroom balcony. The snow capped mountain you see is part of the Olympic Range located on the Olympic Peninsula.

32 weeks (and 5 days)

Happy New Year, here is to a great 2012! We can't believe that in less than 8 weeks our little boy is going to be here...wow how time flies! To make sure we had some "Jimmie and Cara time" before he makes is arrival we spent New Years Day in downtown Seattle playing tourists. The day included a great breakfast in our old neighborhood Queen Anne, a visit to the Ballard Locks, a fantastic steak dinner at the Metropolitan Grill, and a stay at a boutique hotel in the heart of the city.

Awkward pose in front of the dam at the Locks.

31 weeks (and 5 days)

Merry Christmas! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend. We spent both Christmas Eve and Christmas with friends, having a great time each night. Although he is not here yet, Baby Boy Lewallen already received a few gifts including a toy, a hooded towel and a TCU Super Frog costume from his mom & dad. Side note, the costume is for a 24 month old, so it will be at least two Halloweens/football seasons before we will see him in it!

30 week ultrasound

This morning was our 30 week ultrasound to check to growth of the baby and whether or not my placenta previa had corrected itself. Got great news on both, the placenta is now out of the way and the baby is growing just fine. In fact, we were told he is almost 4lbs, which is on the high end for his age!

Excerpt from Babycenter.com's 30 week page:

How your baby's growing:
Your baby's about 15.7 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage). A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and takes up more room in your uterus. Her eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face. (Normal adult vision is 20/20.) http://www.babycenter.com/

Now when people feel the need to tell me I am too small, I will have to let them know that I am all baby and baby is a big one!

We didn't get any profile shots but we did get one of his face; check out those chubby cheeks!

29 weeks (and 5 days)

This is after the holiday party we attended this weekend. Baby and I actually lasted out past midnight! When we got home we tested out our new tripod with a pre-baby family photo in front of our really big Christmas tree. :-) I do not think Ike liked it....

28 weeks (and 4 days)

This week was a busy one. I was assigned coordinating a Holiday open house for all UPS employees in the Greater Seattle Area. With the help of a great team, we were able to pull it off in 5 day! Above is a picture of Santa and I from today's event. In addition to this party, Jimmie and I had a small one for my employees last night, tonight is a holiday dance performance for one of our friends, next week is a larger UPS party and the following Tuesday is Eddie Bauer's party. Whew...it is going to be a busy next couple of weeks for baby, Jimmie and I! Needless to say we are looking forward to a relaxing Sunday watching football and decorating the house.

27 weeks (and 2 days)

We spent Thanksgiving in Seattle this year, hosting our first turkey dinner. Cousins Sean and Nicole (Sean goes to University Oregon, Nicole is at Northern Arizona University) and our friends Toti and Matt all came over for the festivities. After dinner, Jimmie and I took Sean and Nicole downtown to show them the sights.

26 weeks (and 5 days)

Only a couple of days away from the 3rd trimester!

25 weeks (and 4 days)

This weekend we went to Boise, ID to watch the TCU Horned Frogs beat the undefeated Boise State Broncos (36 to 35). It was a real nail biter, going down to the last second where Boise State missed a field goal for the win! All the excitement helped us forget the temperature was in the 30's. Baby probably got tired off all the jumping around I was doing, but I will say that we have determined he is TCU's good luck charm (they are 3-0 in the games he has been to this season!)

In addition to the Boise trip, Jimmie and I also started childbirth preparation class this week. We are 1 class down with 5 more weeks to go. After we knock out this course we will still plan to take infant CPR and safety sometime in January.

Shopping Spree

While I was in California, my mom and I stopped by the Carters outlet. We bought some absolutely adorable sleepers, so baby can be all warm and snugly for his first 3 months. These are my favorites, with the winner being the cuddly teddy bear! It makes me smile every time I see it!

24 weeks (and 4 days)

This weekend Jimmie and I went to San Diego for my Grandfather's memorial service. He lived life to its fullest for 91 years. The picture above is of his 6 grandchildren.

23 weeks (and 4 days)

This weekend Jimmie and I drove down to Eugene, OR to visit my cousin Sean. Sean just started this fall at the University of Oregon. This picture was taken in front of the John E. Jaqua Center Academic Center for Student-Athletes.

22 weeks (and 4 days)

Lazy football/baseball Saturday in what will be the nursery...

Go Rangers!

Baby Travels

Hello!

We are going to try to be better about taking pictures and recording stories through our remaining adventure to parenthood. So here is to an informative and fun 18 weeks!

Basic Info: Baby Boy Lewallen is due February 21, 2012

Location: Seattle, WA

Mom: Cara

Dad: Jimmie

Cat: Ike