Bye Bye Bili!!! (we hope for good)

So today has been a good day. In fact, a great day. We went to see Jonathan's doctor this morning for his 1 week weight check and he now weighs... 7lbs 6 oz. That is almost a half pound more than his birth weight and 13oz more than he was on last Monday. We then got our lab slip and went over to the lab to have his little heel poked again. We waited all day long for the results. At about 5:15 this afternoon, we got the call that his bili count went from 20.5 yesterday to 15.5 today. That is a good drop and an indicator that we are getting past the jaundice issue. The best part is that he doesn't have to be on the Bili Blanket all the time. We got to take the dogs for his first walk this evening! It was great to be out of the house and not have to stay within 5 feet of a power outlet. We have to go back to the lab on Wednesday to make sure that his count is still declining but we are happy to have a little more freedom to move! Thanks for all your prayers. Here are a couple pics of this today without the bili blanket!

Some pictures before we go to the doctor this morning

Thomas before he left for work this morning.

I just love his dimples and how happy he is.
Well let's just see that twice (sorry in a hurry). :0)
We couldn't do it (but we threw it away, is that any better?!?)
The little glow worm with a little glow worm from Great Grandpa W.
He was so wide awake for much of yesterday afternoon, we had so much fun talking and hiccuping and napping and eating. It was a good day, here's to hoping for some good news about getting rid of the bili blanket!

Weekend update

Hi everyone, here is a quick update on Jonathan and the Odenbaugh crew. I am doing great!! A little tired of plugging in my peanut for the past week and am dying to go for a walk and go to the park and put him in the sling, and the list goes on with things I can't do with him attached to the wall. The bili blanket showed up last week Monday evening and he has been on it non stop unless he has been at the doctors. Thankfully our DR messed up a little bit and had us go to extended care in Banning instead Redlands community so that saved us a lot of driving time. Our nurse in Banning did not know what she was doing which was WONDERFULL thank you for all of your prayers, she listened to us and we were able to get the blood with one poke yesterday and two pokes today (the second one with Thomas holding him while up on his knees on the exam table so that the blood would flow down to his foot, he is such an awesome dad). Tomorrow we go to the DR at 9:30 to do the weight check and see what the plan is for the Bili blanket. The results from this morning were still high, 20 1/2. I hope that it will go down soon but have gotton over crying about it, as a new momma that is hard but we are doing the best that we can with feeding and keeping the blanket on him as much as is possible. I am just expecting that we will keep it on and when we don't then I will be happy. :0) My mom said that I had prolonged jaundice as a baby and finally the Dr said, "let's just leave her alone and see what happens". I will try to post some more pictures soon but with a hungry little bug to feed just this post took me quite some time to get done. (Thomas and I were talking today about all of the little names we have for him, we wonder which ones will stick.) Hope you had a great Sunday Afternoon, our's was very restful!

1 week old continued

Here we are one week later. A little sleepy, but definitly in love with our little bundle. Yes I do have new glasses. yippee! I had a smile on my face at this time last week and a smile on my face today.

1 week old

Time flies when you are having fun. Jonathan is 1 week old today. It is amazing how your life can change so much in one week. I am doing really well. Much better than I was expecting, I still get my surge of energy in the morning, like I did when I was teaching so that has been great for getting things done. I think I am nesting now, yesterday my mom was here for a while because Thomas had to go take care of some things for work, I organized my closet. Something that was bugging me when I was pregnant but I couldn't manuever with my big belly so I just let it go. We folded all of the laundry and got that put away and she ironed Thomas' shirts. I was cracking up because he was like "I didn't know people still did that". We usually iron as we go in the mornings.

Jonathan is still jaudiced, his numbers went up yesterday just a little to 17 1/2 ( we get worried when it gets to 25). So we are keeping him with the bili blanket longer than we had hoped but it is SOOOO much better than having to go to the hospital for those lights, it is just a bit of a pain having to keep him "plugged in" somewhere. Ducan and Roxy are so sad because we just keep him plugged in in our bedroom in his pack n play or in the front room when we eat and visit with company. Yesterday Duncan was playing dead in an attempt to get some attention from someone. I would love to go for a "family walk" but again we have to keep the glow worm plugged in. Thankfully our doctor is giving us a break from having his heel pricked this afternoon, but what that does mean is that we will have to go to extended care tomorrow morning. Please pray that we get someone who knows what they are doing. 45 minutes and 3 pokes to draw blood from our little peanut was a little too much for these new parents on Monday. The lab tech we have seen for the rest of the week has been awesome. Hopefully we can "cut the cord" and unplug him soon.

One more thing... my dad had a "grandpa shower" at work yesterday. Those public health employees love a party! They had a potluck with cake that had Jonathan's picture on it. I don't know how I am going to eat my son's head but the cake was YUMMY! He brought over a TON of presents! Mostly clothes which was really awesome because with the bili blanket I can only put things on him that have snaps so the cord can come out the bottom and there were quite a few of those. One really fun present was a baby book. I was planning on scrapbooking but not sure I was into a baby book thing but this one is super cute and I think is my style. Hopefully I will have time to work on it today.

So I have written a novel here, just wanted to keep everyone near and far in the know.

Finally a few pics

Hi Everyone. Here are a couple pics of Jonathan. Sorry about the delay. Isn't he awesome!!! We love him a bunch. He and Leighann are having a nap right now so I thought I would post a couple for everyone.

HE'S HERE!!!!!

Hi all,

I'm sure that most of you have heard by now that Jonathan was born of Friday morning at 7:47AM. He and mom are doing well. We came home on Saturday night and our trusty old Dell had the blue screen of death on it. I tried my best to fix it with no results. So, today we got a new notebook. I haven't had a chance to put any pics up yet... but our great friend Krista has! Her blog is linked on ours if you want to see the cute little guy. I will get some new pics up tomorrow after some rest! Thanks for all your love and support.

38 weeks

Here is the latest belly shot. Thomas made me turn all the way side ways so you can see me in all my huge glory. I started my maternity leave officially on Monday and it has been good. I am so glad that I have had this time to just rest and relax. It is really weird not to go to work when I know the kids are there... but they will survive without me. There are only 8 weeks left in school so it should go fast for them and the sub. SO far this week I have made dinners (with extras to freeze) I got my hair cut and a pedicure. I started working on catching up my scrap book until I left the pictures on the couch and Roxy thought I wanted them spread through the backyard, so I am going to walmart to pick up the new prints. grrrr. I went to a training at school for writing. I have taken naps and am about half way though a new book. I have written thank you cards and watched way too many episodes of baby story, bringing home baby, birth day... Hopefully I can get some pages done for Jonathan's book but we will see because I am not a very good "make the page and add the pictures later" kind of scrapper.

Baby Shower #3

The wonderful ladies that I work with gave me a very fun shower last week. Kindergarten teachers know how to throw a party! Everyone brought food to share, there was a color scheme and we even had adult height tables and chairs!! They worked so hard putting it all together and I had a great time seeing lots of people who I worked with last year but went to open the new school. Jeannie who was my neighbor came out from Arizona. I got soo many presents it was a little overwhelming but I definitely felt very loved! We laughed and ate and I opened presents! It was so fun because everyone was chatting and having a good time and I wasn't the center of attention... which is not really my favorite. SO thanks to my partner teacher Robin for such a great time!

Baby Shower #2

Unfourtunately I have no pictures from this baby shower because I forgot to take any... darn it! So if you are reading this and you have some send them my way so I can at least make a scrapbook page of this wonderful day! My aunts and cousins got together and threw me a very fun baby shower at my parent's house. We had a fabulous lunch with yummy cupcakes that were blue frosting with brown sprinkles, so cute! It was great for all of us to get together and talk and eat! Hopefully I will get some pictures to show soon!

A great Monday!!

I think I made the right decision... Today I went to work this morning, came home, had lunch took an hour and a half nap and started the marathon that is cleaning my house ( I am doing it in stages... kinda annoying but it will get done that way) . Tonight Thomas and I are gonna go to Target so we can get the rest of the essentials for Jonathan (at least what we think is essential today, I am sure I will have a new list next week ha ha) . When I am home all day long I usually end up watching a baby story or something like that on TV all morning.... and get nothing done. Then when Thomas comes home I have a million things I want to do. Today was great. I am still taking it one day at a time, we will see what tomorrow brings.

My friend Faith took some beautiful maternity shots they are from about 30 weeks:

Addicted to kindergarten

So yesterday I couldn't get over the fact that today would be my "last day" with the kindergarteners. It made me so sad to think that I wouldn't see them anymore until they were first graders. While I was super tired at the begining of the week, the end of the week were days that remind me of why I love to teach kindergarteners so much. Since I am such a planner and when exactly Jonathan decides to make his debut is not something I can plan. I have decided to keep working next week. Well... sort of. I am going to work in the mornings and then have a sub for the afternoon. AS long as I don't get too tired. It sounded like a good compromise. Like Kaitlyn says "you are no one's hero" I won't be working until the day he is born. Unless he decides to come early, then I might be. I thought it would be a good way to transition out of some of the responsibilities I have at work as well. So pray that this little plan works for me. :0)

Baby Shower #1

This past weekend Kathy, Robin and Marilyn hosted a wonderful shower for me. We had a yummy lunch and cupcakes for dessert. It was so fun to be with all my friends and family members from Thomas' side. Baby Jonathan and I were very spoiled with lots of fun gifts. I was very nervous for the shower because I hate being the center of attention but everyone chatted and had a good time. My mom had so much fun getting her baby fix. We played the "guess your belly size game" and the two winners cracked me up. Jen, who is like the skinniest person I know and Faith who is 20 weeks behind me and measured her own belly. It is one of the few times I have played that game and seen two people who were super close with their measurement. So Fun!! Grandma Wallerius gave me one of my favorite little onesies.... it says "I'm cute, my mom's cute and my dad's lucky." Some other things I loved at my shower were everyone amazed at the size of one month old Daniel, Dorthy coming (she has cut Thomas' hair since he was 13 and is a crack up!), Kasandra not in basketball shorts, Antonette telling me, your friends are so beautiful Leighann. Good times.....

Leighann's 27th Birthday

Sorry this is a little bit late.... last Tuesday was my birthday. In the morning my mom and I went shopping. I didn't find anything too exciting. Just some towels for in our guest bathrooms so I could "steal" the red ones for our bathroom and take out that set for the Havisu house. It was a fun and relaxing day since I was on spring break. At night we had our small group come over and we made pizzas and had yummy cold stone birthday cake. On Friday night we went our with the whole family to the Old Spaghetti Factory. I think my favorite moment was the conversation with Christian (5yrs) and Antonette (4yrs).

C - "Leighann.... why did we come to a place for wizards?"

Me - "It's not a place for wizards, it just looks old fashioned in here."

C - "Oh"

A - " My grandma's got a lot of wizards in her back yard."

C - " No she doesn't the wizards are here."

A - " Yes she does, we tried to catch them this afternoon."

C - " You can't catch wizards. "

A - " Yeah... they run too fast."

Me - (laughing) - "Antonette, Christian is talking about WIZards and you are talking about LIZards" - two confused little kids just stare at me.... kind of reminds me of kindergarten sometimes.

We had lots of fun and good food and good times were had by all.

Here are some pictures