Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from our chubby bunny!

Check out http://www.etsy.com/shop/katiejaycrochets to get your own crocheted hats!

The first weeks - part I

Like most (or all) first time parents, the first few weeks at home were quite an adjustment. The days and nights blurred together, and believe it or not, time flew by, despite the lack of sleep.
We had a doctor's appointment when J was six days old, at which time he had already returned to his birth weight. The doctor was very impressed! The following day, Mommy got to shower and do her hair and makeup - what a treat!

Here are a few highlights of our first days as a new family of three:

Week 1

Skin to skin time - so precious! 

Everyone is tired, can you tell?

J's first Mets game with Daddy! 

First bath at home

Meeting Nana! 

Nana, Papa, and Baby J in his St. Patrick's Day outfit.

Papa and Baby J. 

Ryan, Tasha, Baby J and cousin Anna.
Celebrating St. Patrick's Day and the first Timbers  game of the year! 

Cousin Anna in her St. Patty's Day outfit. 

Aunties with cousins together for the first time. 

Anna kissing Baby J. 

This photo pretty much describes how everyone felt the first week! 

The arrival

Sixteen days ago on March 10th, we met our son, Jay Thomas Windle. He was six days late, which undoubtedly contributed to his very healthy birth weight of 9lbs 2oz. We certainly didn't expect such a big boy! 

Jay Thomas Windle, March 10, 2012.

The beginning of four hours of pushing! 

Sister love. 

Jay's first moments. 

Daddy love. 

The new Windle family of three with Auntie Stacy. 

So tired from all the hard work! 

Jay's first bath.  

All cleaned up and dressed.

Dr. Charlie congratulating Ryan. 
Wait a second, who did all the hard work here?

Father and son. 

We did it! 

Auntie Rebecca's birthday present was sharing a birthday with her first nephew (birthday buddies!). It was really special to have her with us during delivery. Thanks for making the drive, staying up all night, and being away from AGM for us! 

Auntie love! 

So glad you were with us Auntie Rebecca! 

A visit from Uncle Geoff and cousin Bella. 

Getting ready to head home. Here's to this new adventure! 

Everyone is happy and healthy. We adore him, and are enjoying our time together home as a family.  

38 weeks!

Today I am 38 and a half weeks pregnant. We had a productive weekend - bookshelves sold, Ikea shopping trip completed, Expedit put together, car seat installed, office/guest room organized, baby gear unpacked and semi-organized, and some sewing completed!

We still have lots to do, but the critical path is complete - we have a place for him to sleep, a place to change him, diapers, a car seat, and some clothing to put him in. The rest will come together at some point, I'm confident. Here are some pictures of the nursery in its present state - clearly not done, but the bones are there and the rest of the stuff can easily be moved.

View from the door of the nursery, looking left.

View from the door, looking right. Changing table and closet.

The pile of baby laundry to be done is on the left. It's smaller than I thought it would be, but I suppose his clothes are awfully small too!

Crib, shelves and glider. Very much a work in progress.

I do still have moments of uncertainty about delivering this baby, and then being a mom the rest of my life, but R pointed out last night something that I hadn't thought of - this could be the only time I experience pregnancy. Thinking about it this way is helping me approach the process differently. 
I will tell you one thing I am ready for - being done with work! As of today, I have approximately 7 working days left for the immediate future, possibly for a long, long time. That is a countdown I can get behind!

Oh, and there is one critical path item still remaining - a name!

the end of the beginning

It boggles the mind that sometime in the next two to seven weeks, this pregnancy will be over and we'll be holding our son. I'm definitely not ready to meet him yet, mostly because we just started our child birth classes, the nursery is far from done (although the crib was assembled this weekend - hooray!), not to mention the idea of being a mom!

After deciding not to take maternity photos some time ago, I changed my mind last week and decided that it would be better to have them and not like them or want them, than to wish later that we had done them. We had them done by our friend Greg Helton Photography, and are happy with how they came out (although, looking at them has revealed to me that I am bigger than I feel like I am! I suppose that's better than feeling bigger than I really am?).  Below are a few of our favorites, for those of you who have been requesting to see the belly:

it's a miracle

Thirty years ago today my mother accomplished a feat that is both mundane and miraculous. Mundane, because it is accomplished every day, many, many times over, all across the world. It has happened billions of times, literally. Miraculous, because the process of building a complete human being in one's womb, then physically delivering that child, is nothing short of extraordinary.

Certainly, the wonder of reproduction has been on my mind as we prepare to become parents. Quite regularly I think to myself, in amazement, that there is a person inside of me right now.  That thought is weird, strange, and sometimes a little freaky. Yet, it is also so incredible that God designed us this way, to grow a complete, perfect person without the use of our sight, our hands, really without conscious effort on our behalf.

Psalm 139:13-14 tells us,

13For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Our Creator is really quite something!

Then, to think of the number and sequence of physiological changes required to deliver a child, and the physical feat accomplished by both mother and baby. It's truly astonishing that it happens so successfully. 

Thanks, Mom, for accomplishing the extraordinary.
And thanks, Dad, for getting everything started, sometime in March of 1981! 

without further ado

After brief thoughts about how to make the announcement here, and coming up with nothing, let's just make it plain and simple --

And yes, we're super excited for a boy, and no, we don't know his name yet!

Let the nursery preparations begin!