I love fall. It's really my favorite season and I haven't had much chance to get out and enjoy it this year. Lawson keeps me too busy and he's too young to enjoy it himself. Next year will be fun when he can walk around the pumpkin patch and apple orchard! But, I wanted to have just a small slice of fall fun, so today I took Lawson to the local farm to see the pumpkins and animals - I'd like to think he had a blast. *grin* Thanks to his Auntie Jill for the cute duds. He was a hit with everyone who walked by. Unfortunately, the pictures didn't turn out quite the way I wanted, but oh well....

Boy, it's been a busy few days. Shadow is adjusting. He hates taking his medicine, but he's getting used to his collar. He's been very clingy, which he always was before the baby, but now he seems a little depressed. We might need kitty Prozac. How sad....

Lawson has been a Mr. Crankypants this week. I think we're going to have to stop referring to him as our mellow baby. Yesterday was the first day he got good naps in in about 4 days! All three of us are exhausted! But yesterday was college football day, which means dressing up with Daddy and "watching" the game, which always seems to relax him - despite Daddy's yelling at the tv. He he... Here are my boys:

Tailgating, Lawson-style:

I'm so sad.... Our kitties at first seemed to be adjusting to Lawson's arrival okay. Obviously they were distressed, but it didn't seem major. Until Shadow started biting the end of his tail.... We assumed he had a bug bite he was scratching, but as the days went on and it didn't get any better, we had to take him to the vet. Brad took him in last week and the vet said he developed a form of OCD in response to the baby - licking his tail until it was raw. Yep, bloody and raw at the end. We had small drops of blood on the walls and carpet. We tried antibiotics and that didn't work, so yesterday morning Shadow had about 4 inches of his tail amputated. Waaaa.... It was so sad...

Brad dropped him off at the house and then left for his night class. Shadow ran and hid under the bed and stayed for a few hours and I left him alone since I was busy entertaining Lawson. But by about 9pm I heard him running around the house like he had been doing when he bit his tail. Once I got Lawson rocked to sleep I went to check on him and yep, he chewed out his stitches and was bleeding all over the house. I found him curled up in Lawson's closet in the basket full of baby blankets! So, I have two beautiful blankets covered in pools of cat blood! The house looks like a crime scene. I wound up having to take him to the all night vet (45 minutes away!!!)! Brad met me after work and the vet restitched Shadow's tail (another $200 - awesome....) and this time gave us one of those cone shaped collars. Oh, and Lawson woke up just as we left and screamed the entire 45 minutes home. Awesome. It was after 2am before the three of us got to bed.

Shadow isn't adjusting well to the collar, but I think it will keep him from eating his tail. He keeps running into walls and furniture, and he can't crawl into his usual tight spaces. I find it heartbreaking and hilarious at the same time. I also think he looks like Little Bo Peep in his collar and bow.

I can't believe my baby is a month old already! The last four weeks have been a blur... In honor of his advancing age, we introduced him to a bottle this weekend. Since I'm nursing, we've waited so he wouldn't have what they call "nipple confusion". All three of us LOVE the bottle! Brad finally got to feed Lawson, I got a break and Lawson got a bunch of pumped breast milk very quickly. If only I could keep up with the pumping enough to feed him a bottle every time.... alas, I don't think that's going to happen.

He's been a bit cranky this weekend and hasn't slept much. However, when he did, he was sure comfy:

Here's Lawson all dressed up for Church today. He got lots and lots of attention.

Here are some pics of Lawson's first tub bath. It was much nicer than the sponge bath - we're so glad his umbilical cord stump has fallen off. However, as you will see, he still doesn't much care for getting clean. He's 100% boy....

Pre-bath:

Post-bath:

Holy moly, can my kid pack away the food! I'm nursing Lawson and we still have a few hiccups in the procedure, so I've been hoping he was getting enough nutrition. He caught a slight virus that landed us at the pediatrician yesterday. When the nurse weighed him, he was 9 lbs, 6 oz! He's gained 2 pounds from his original birthweight in just three weeks. Clearly, he's getting enough food. The doctor joked about how Lawson must really like to chow down. He's outgrown his newborn sized clothes.... he only had two outfits (the rest are 0-3), but they hung off him in his first couple of days. Now it's time to wash them and put them away for the next baby. I'm so sad he's growing so fast...

Lawson is one athletic kid! He's been really good about picking his head up for a while now. It won't be long before he can hold it for a long time. He's got insanely strong legs - he's trying to crawl with his legs, but that dang head is just too heavy to hold up long enough to get moving...

He's also rolling over. The first time he did it was at 5 days old - I set him on his back and he rolled onto his side. The pediatrician was surprised, but said it was likely an accident. It probably is, but he keeps doing it every couple of days. This picture is of him after I put him down on his back. While I'm proud of his athleticism, I'm terrified of this early mobility. So, I'm not too excited that he can do all this stuff yet. I'm really okay with him being stationary for a while longer.

Awesome news (at least for me)! I can wear my wedding ring! My fingers swelled up so badly that I quit wearing the ring in about April, so it was fabulous to put it on again. It's snug, but not uncomfortable. Hopefully, I'll go completely back to normal finger size soon. I also slipped on my favorite brown leather shoes today and they fit. As late as last week, I couldn't get them on my puffy feet. I'm just so thrilled my swelling is better. I'll get more pictures of Lawson up soon. Trust me, I have plenty.

Well, Mom and Dad went home yesterday and so we're back to being on our own here. Lawson had a great time with his grandparents (and vice versa). The poor kid's retinas are close to burn out with all the great pics we took, but it was worth it. Here are some of the cute moments from their visit.

Lawson's second Aggie game. He still slept through it, but we got this priceless photo out of it.

He's a bit too young to smile for real, but he's close. A good mixture of a little gas and genuine excitement will produce a heartwarming reaction.

One of many of Lawson's classic facial expressions. This kid's face is made of rubber - he is so expressive. This is probably a wind up for a good poopy diaper, but it makes me laugh!

More cute faces:

Stay tuned for more pictures and news.

Hullaballoo, Caneck, Caneck! Today was Lawson's first Aggie football game. Well, on TV anyway. He was dressed for the occasion in his Aggie duds, furnished by fellow Ag, Aunt Mary Beth. Unfortunately, he peed on himself (and Daddy) within the first 5 minutes of the first quarter and so he had to change. Glad I did the pictures early, although I really wanted a father-son pic. Maybe next Saturday.... I think he enjoyed the game. He ate himself into a coma and spent most of it passed out, but I'd like to think his contentment was due to the satisfaction of an Aggie win. It was also fun to watch Kansas State totally kick some Longhorn butt. Whoop!

Lawson Alexander Wineman is here!

I went in to the hospital Thursday night (the 20th) to start cervidil for my Friday morning induction (it's a drug that helps prep the body for labor induction). Cervidil gets you ready and then they give you pitocin the next morning to actually start the labor. Cervidil causes a very small percentage of women to go into labor, but I wasn't the slightest bit dialated, so we weren't expecting me to be one of those women. Imagine everyone's surprise when my water broke and I started contractions (2-3 min apart) around 3:30am! They decided pitocin wasn't necessary...

However, very soon the baby started showing signs of distress - his heartrate was dropping and he wasn't getting enough oxygen - they gave me an oxygen mask to breathe through for about an hour. At 8am, my dr arrived and gave another internal exam. After 4.5 hours of labor, I wasn't the slightest bit dialated!!! The baby still hadn't descended into my pelvis and so basically, I wasn't going to dialate. The dr said we had to do a c-section...now. Within minutes, nurses swarmed around me and I was prepped for surgery. At 0849, Lawson made his appearance - 7 lbs, 4 oz., 21 inches long. Even the surgery was difficult. Turns out, he had the umbilical cord wrapped around his body which was partly to blame for him not descending. He was so stuck, it took a while for them to pull him out through the incision they made - they eventually used a vacuum to remove him. He was immediately put under an oxygen dome, and was rated an Apgar 1!!!! (babies are rated 1-10 on how well they fare after delivery, 1 being the worst) He improved rapidly, but they still wheeled him out to the nursery right away, where he stayed until Saturday. I finally got to see him Friday night, 9 hours after he'd been born. That was so hard. Dh was able to go to the nursery and take pictures to show me, but it wasn't the same. Poor little guy was hooked up to so much stuff. It was scary, especially since I had such an easy, comfortable pregnancy. But, the good news is he's completely fine now. We saw the pediatrician yesterday and he got a clean bill of health and is on track developmentally - you'd never know he had such a traumatic entry into the world. He's a total cutie and we're completely in love. Hope you like the pictures! Remember, if you click on a picture it comes up in a new window so you can see it better.

One last picture before leaving for the hospital:

Lawson with an IV, hooked up to various monitors:

Proud Papa:

Yay! I FINALLY got to see my baby!

Lawson's first bath. He really didn't like it:

Post-bath. Snug as a bug...

This is one of my favorite pictures. He just looks so sweet:

At home in the bassinet. This is my favorite thing he does - the startle reflex that shoots his arms up in the air like he's on a roller coaster.

Lawson's first at-home bath. He still hated it, but at least he had a cute towel to dry off with.

That's it for now. We've been taking pictures every day since we've been home, so there are lots. Check back often for updates.

Ohmigosh....I am getting so huge! I really need to take another picture and get it posted up here because I'm really something to see.... I'm not waddling, but man it's an effort to get up from a chair or from bed! Brad keeps laughing at all my "oofs" and "yerks" as I try to move. He does give me a boost, though. Rolling over in bed is about a 30 second ordeal as I twist in small increments, trying to get to the other side. I feel like a turtle stuck on its back.... Thank goodness this is just a phenomenon of the last week or so and I find it as funny as everyone else around me, so it's all good. But I think I am officially tired of being pregnant. Bring on the baby!

I've got a baby update for you! I'm scheduled for an induction a week from today (the 21st). Unfortunately, I'm not really dialated much (almost, but not quite 1 cm) and the baby hasn't moved down as much as he should have by now. So, the dr is giving him one more week to work down on his own and then he'll induce labor to get him out. Another unfortunately is that the reason he isn't moving down might be b/c he can't fit in my narrow pelvis and therefore I'll need a c-section. I know it's not the end of the world, but I'd really prefer not to have one. Oh, well. One way or another, I'll have a baby by this time next week!

In other exciting news... due to the decrease in temperature around here (I'm assuming), the swelling in my feet has gone down. I can actually feel the bones on the top of my feet again! I'd almost forgotten they were there!

Brad and I had a fabulous date afternoon/night yesterday! We watched our Aggies play Fresno State in the first televised game of the season. The game went into overtime and so we had to miss the end b/c of our plans - we left thinking the Ags lost. Lo and behold, they pulled it out! No need for that kind of stress - our boys really fell apart there in the second half. I'm so glad it's football season again. It's especially fun to watch home games and get a glimpse of the students and campus and stuff.

As I said, we had to leave b/c we needed to grab dinner before heading on to see Rob Riggle at a new comedy club in town. Rob is currently a correspondent on the Daily Show and we love him. He's gorgeous, smart AND a Marine (wonder why I like him....). He's also from a suburb of KC so he had lots of funny things to say about the area. His humor was a bit sophomoric, but he's so physical you can't help but laugh your butt off! We had a fabulous time! We topped off the evening with a big ice cream cone from Cold Stone. It was so nice and we really tried to savor it b/c goodness knows how many more opportunities we'll have for a while....

I just got back from a yummy lunch with my friend, Tracie, at my favorite restaurant in town. It's a tea room run by some local Brits, but they also serve hearty pub-grub. I had the most fantastic plate of bangers and mash! But, the highlight of the meal was the butterbeer I ordered. For you non-Harry Potter fans, this post will make no sense and I apologize. If you are a fan --- isn't that cool??!! I guess the Harry craze is causing companies to market all the made-up stuff from the books. You can buy Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and apparently, order a butterbeer. It was non-alcoholic and tasted like one of those butterscotch candies, only in liquid form. It was delicious for the first few sips, but eventually I had to stop drinking it because it tasted too sweet. But, it totally made my day.

So, since we're pretty much ready for the baby to arrive any day now, Brad and I decided to have a little time to ourselves this weekend - we'll be a big family soon. So naturally, we went where all grown-ups go for a day trip - the zoo! The Kansas City Zoo had two koala bears on loan from San Diego through Labor Day and we just had to go admire the cuteness. Neither of us had been to a genuine zoo in years and we had a blast. We wore ourselves out walking all over the park, but it was worth it to see those cute koalas, meercats and monkeys/apes. Here are some of our favorite pics. The koala and gorilla ones were taken through glass, so they're not super sharp.

This gorilla put on one heck of a show. He had this HUGE habitat, but preferred to throw him/herself on the ground in front of the window. Drama Queen!!!

I luv Meercats.... These little sleepy ones were just so cute! Yes, that one with his face in the ground is definitely sleeping, not grooming.

So, about these birthing classes... We went to our fourth one last night and we have enjoyed every single one. Next week is our last class and then it's go-time. The nurse who runs the class is very helpful and while she definitely has an agenda (she wants us all to deliver naturally), she makes a lot of sense. We've spent a little time on what kinds of medications are available to us, but most of our time is spent on pain management techniques. I'm really going to do everything I can to have this baby naturally. I've learned a lot of good techniques and I have confidence this is do-able. However, I'm not so cocky to think that I'll never need the drugs. If the pain is more than I can handle, I'm all about 'em. It's scary to think about how close we are.

Last night, we toured the labor/delivery unit - talk about a surreal experience. In just a couple of weeks, I'm going to bring a baby into this world in one of those rooms we saw. It's a small hospital with a very attentive staff and I'm completely comfortable working with these people. Plus, they have the coolest baby photo studio. They don't just snap a photo of the baby in the nursery tray - it's an honest-to-goodness studio with backdrops and props and such. We saw some of the pictures and they are so cool! Just 25 days until the due date......

We've been home for a couple of weeks now, but it's amazing how projects stack up. Classes at the Staff College have started up again and Brad's at the junior college teaching an American history class as I type this. Yep, he's basically taking over my spot at the JC since I'm not teaching this fall. It's good for making up for my lost pay and he really enjoys teaching US survey.

We've also started birthing classes - three down so far, two more to go. I'll blog about those in detail a little later. All in all, they're going well and we're learning A LOT!

The big project we've been working on is the baby's nursery. Last weekend, Mom, Dad and Aunt Nita came into town to help us get things going. **Side note - my cousin, Brian, and his wife, Michelle, just moved to town b/c Brian is attending the Staff College this year. It'll be nice having them around. They came over for dinner one night and hung out with everyone.**

We worked our little tushies off and Mom even had to extend her trip by a couple of days so we could finish. We had such a good time and the nursery looks fabulous. I'm so happy with how it turned out. Hope you enjoy the pics! As always, I encourage you to click on the picture to make it bigger - you'll see the details better.

Here's the view as you walk in. It's clear this is a Mickey-themed room right away....

Here's the glider my sister-in-law, Jill, lent me. Mom made the quilt that's draped over the ottoman. I love the wall-stickers!

I bought the letters at Hobby Lobby, Dad sanded and primed them, and Mom painted the extra colors on the sides to make them "pop" off the wall. It was a pain to do, but they look so cute....

Dad made this shelf! I love all the characters looking down on the crib...

I've had this bookshelf since college, but with a fresh coat of paint, it matches the nursery perfectly. Add a personalized clock and the Guardsman/Beefeater bears I bought in London last March and viola!

Let's see.....So, after the wedding we headed back to Virginia, stopping to see a couple of friends along the drive back. Due to the wedding festivities, I didn't go to a Harry Potter midnight party. Bummer, but I got my book just the same at a Target on Sunday. Side note -- while in Lexington, I had a round of practice contractions that made me a little nervous. I had great plans for my final week in Virginia - I was going to spend every day in DC - but I took the contractions as a warning that I needed to take it easy and remember that I was 8 months pregnant. So, I spent almost every day of the last week on my friend, Susan's, couch reading Harry Potter. She'd finished it by the time I arrived and was so good about not spoiling anything. I loved the book so much and cried and cried when it was all over. Such a sissy.... :)

Besides reading, I had a blast. I went into DC for one day and got to see a lot for someone in my condition. I walked through a couple of monuments I'd never seen and FINALLY got to the Holocaust Museum. It was an amazing display and I even bumped in to a survivor who came to the junior college where I teach to speak this past spring. I got to spend an evening with my good friend, Mike, who's wife is newly pregnant (there's something in the water, I think) with their second. That makes 4 friends pregnant with me right now - how fun! I also had dinner with an old friend, Stephannie, from grad school. It was wonderful to get caught up with both of them. I also spent a couple of evenings just hanging out with Susan and her fiancee, whom I'd never met before. Good food, lots of ice cream (*grin*) and a couple of rounds on the Harry Potter Scene-It game. Life is good.

By Friday, it was time to leave. I picked Brad up a little early Friday afternoon and we walked through the new Marine Corps Museum there at Quantico - it's really well done. After that, we started driving west. We stayed in Lexington Friday night and then began the big push back on Saturday. That afternoon, we arrived in Louisville, KY to see Brad's old roommate, Greg and his family. After visiting for a while, we drove up to Cincinatti to see the Reds get stomped by the Cubs. Brad and I even got to try Skyline Chili. Interesting... You can tell how hot and yucky I felt from this picture, but we had a great time.

Sooo....... I've gotten behind before, but never quite like this. I'm going to have to post in installments here to get everyone caught up. Let's see, I left off last time with me about to spend the week in Lexington....

It was fabulous. I really miss the community, the church, and all of our friends. I got to see a few former students and lots of friends - it went by way too quickly. I was delighted to discover two friends there are pregnant, due in the winter! If we move back to Lexington someday, our kids will be in the same grade - how fun is that??!!!

The week was fast and before I knew it, I was back in the car to pick Brad up and drive to New Jersey for his dad's wedding. The wedding was amazing! It was very small - just immediate family and a couple of friends. There were 30 people there, 8 of whom were Judy and Dave's grandkids. It made for a fun, relaxed atmosphere. The ceremony was lovely, but the reception was the bomb! They rented out the upper floor of a restaurant (with views of Manhattan) and we spent the next 4 hours eating a 7 course meal! They interspersed each course with dancing so we didn't get too stuffed, but man did we eat a lot! It was all very gormet and fancy - YUM! Here's a pic of Brad and me all dressed up. He was the Best Man and so he got to wear a tux.