Not quite like I remember... definitely more delightful and definitely...wetter.

I love my son! I want to make sure that everyone knows how terrific I think being a mom is because I have a terrific kid! Oh yeah- its a lot of work and a little sleep but I find such joy in taking care of him that all of the labor is something I don't mind... Here is what I do mind- and its only because until recently I hadn't quite figured out how to protect myself. Protect myself from what?- you might ask... FROM THE WILD WHIZZER!!! Nobody told me you do twice as much laundry because he'll pee all over everything when you think its safe to change him or for whatever reason he's mastered the art of leaking... no matter how straight you put that diaper on! And if I'm not bobbing and weaving the pressure washer then I'm ducking and dodging and then finally resorting to just shielding myself from THE SUPER-PUKER! We're talking projectile-folks! This kid has it coming outta both ends!

I get the throwing up... he's been having a rough time with formula and its not sitting in his stomach very well- so no never mind to him- BLAH!- I'm covered in it! Poor thing. I feel bad for him! But the whizzing... yeah- I'm still stumped. Mandy and Joe gave us what looks like a little cup or shield type thing to "delay the spray" but all it ends up doing is creating a little puddle that the poor dear ends up swimming in... which still means more laundry for me so I've just decided that the new diaper is my shield while I quickly discard the other. Its quite a technical process... you'd think it took a degree to change a diaper! I'm still investigating the inner-workings of "the leak". I have NO IDEA how he can pee all over himself WHILE he's in a diaper! I've changed millions of theses things... I KNOW HOW TO PUT A DIAPER ON!- but alas... its one wet spot after another.

Did I mention that I LOVE being a mother! When all is said and done... I get a clean diaper on him and a full tummy (both for the mean time) and then this darling little angel just looks up at me and gives me the cutest faces and looks and it doesn't matter that I've changed my clothes as often as I've changed his and it doesn't matter that I have to feed him twice as often because he gives half of whatever he's just eaten back to me which means I get even less sleep than before. This PERFECT child is mine to hug and hold and kiss and cuddle with and it makes all the waterworks worth it. Who couldn't love THIS baby?

The real deal! He checked!

So Lil' Robby has seen the real Santa! We took him for his first ever visit and of course he got his picture taken and while sitting on Santa's lap... he reached up and grabbed his beard! The picture is worth a thousand words! Being a parent is awesome... we get to do such fun stuff!

BTW, my child will NEVER behave like 90% of those zoo animals running around the mall! Grubby little Rhesus Monkies!

Oh yeah, he's not fussing in this photo... He's actually streching... but the stupid photo girl took the picture anyway... believe it or not... this was the best of the 3 poses. Stupid girl. Thank goodness Stevi was there and took her own pics... I'll post those soon. :-)

I'm in love!

Wow- is he not the cutest baby ever?! I just can't help but want to hold him and watch him ALL the time! He's a TOTAL time waster! Luckily our sleeping schedules make it so that I finally get the energy to do something while he's sleeping for one of his long hauls... so I still manage to get things done... but he's just so FREAKIN' CUTE that the rest of the time is just spent loving him! We're totally smitten with our new family member. It doesn't get more precious than him!

He's Here! 10 days early!

Hooray! I got my Christmas Wish... My son decided to show up 10 days early and now we have 2 fun weeks before Christmas to play with him! He's SO adorable!

So here's the story... so that EVERYONE knows how it all went down and I can quit retelling it. :)

On Friday Night, Rob and I went out for mexican at Los Bravos... We got home around 10:15pm and I went pee... (like ya do- when you're preggers) and then I went to let my puppy out to go potty... well, Rob pulled into the driveway and I bent down to pick Penny up so she wouldn't run out infront of him and when I stood back up... WET. Not like a big water balloon gush but enough to make me wonder if I hadn't just pee'd my pants. I thought it was weird because I'd just pee'd and while I really do go every 5 minutes... this seemed different. So I went back to the bathroom and it everything coming out was all clear. (Sorry for the gross details, put your big girl pants on for the rest of this story if you're starting to feel icky.)

So, I called my mom and asked her what it was like to have your water break... she sort of paused so I started explaining and she said to keep my eye on it and call my doctor. So after that, I called my mother-in-law because she's a nurse and I explained to her what happened and she said to call my doctor and see what happened.

So, I call Renee (my midwife) and I explained everything (again) and she said from my description it sounds like your water broke but the only way to know is if you go to the hospital and have them check you.

So, Rob and I started packing (just in case it was all for real) and that's when the first contraction hit... WHAM! It was like I got stabbed in the back, right above my butt. I went "YOW!" while on the phone with my Mom and she said, "That sounded like a contraction!"

So- Rob and I started to pack and move a little quicker... all the while I'm timing these pains at every 5 minutes.

So, we get all our junk in the car, 3 bags, 2 feather pillows, a towel for me to sit on and our Christmas cards (in case we have time to work on them) and we head to the hospital. We check in to our room at 12:06pm and the nurse comes in to check me.

This part was excrutiating too... I think she shoved her whole arm in there! All she said was... "hmmm... not really dialted more than a centimeter" and when she pulled her arm out it was like a tidal wave! She then said "Well, your water is definitely broke now!" And I said "So you're not sending me home?" And she said... "Umm, no... we're not sending you home." :-)

So, they start hooking me up to the monitors and I call my mom and Shelby and Priya and tell them its the real deal.

Mom and Shelby don't show up till about 2:30 but Priya gets there pretty quickly and she and Rob are my labor team.

WOW DO CONTRACTIONS SUCK!!! Holy cow... the pain. Priya held my hand and Rob rubbed my feet and we just took each contraction, one at a time.

Mind you at this point, I'd already let everyone know that I wanted an epidural and they tried to "hold me over" with Demoral so I could make more "progress". Well, at 2:15 they gave me the Demoral and Rob made me wait until 3:00am to ask for the epidural so that it looked like I'd given it a "chance to work". Well, you can bet that at 3:00am I was still asking for that epidural.

So, my nurse comes back in and says "Ok, the doctor is on the way to do something about the pain." I didn't get my epidural until like 4:20.

Dr. Greenberg showed up and started working on me and by 4:45 I had my epidural and was VERY comfy. Everyone passes out... The only person left paying any attention to me at all was Priya. She stuck around until about 6:15 and then went home to shower and change and she'd be on her way back.

Well, I sort of drifted off and at 6:45 my nurse was back in there checking my progress and said "Wow! You've made a lot of progress! 5 centimeters!"

"Cool." I thought... and went back to sleep.

At 8:15 the doctor on call came by to arbitrarily check me, mentioned something about not seeing my contractions on the monitor for the last little bit and then all of a sudden went...

"Um... can you call Renee and tell her that if she doesn't get here quick she's going to miss this delivery." And the nurse rushed out.

I went "Huh?!" and he said "Yeah, nobody knows why your contractions weren't being picked up by the monitor but you're at 10 centimeters and its time to push. His head... yeah, it's right there."

So- I hollar at my sleepy support staff (mom and shelby passed out on the couch and poor hubby asleep on the floor) and I'm like "Guys, time to get up... we're there."

So everyone wakes up and Rob comes over and the nurse is already in the room and has me bent like a paper clip and she's telling me to push.

So, I start pushing.... and pushing... and pushing.. (15 sets of 3.) My midwife calls from the parking lot and says "I'm here- I'm on the way in... hang on!"

So, she shows up around set # 9 and takes a look and she's like "You're doing great- keep pushing."

Finally... on set #14 push#2 Renee says "Sarah, you push like that again and you'll have this baby!" One more push and at that moment my mind goes blank... All I can think about is... I'm going to be pushing this kid out FOR ETERNITY... IT'S NEVER GOING TO END... and then Renee yells, "STOP!"

I stop and the room goes silent... she says- "hang on one quick sec, the cord is around his neck"- she just flips the cord over his head and says "give me one more little push" and I pushed and she said "harder" and I pushed harder and PRESTO! Baby!

He squaked once and then she flopped him on my tummy and he sort of sqeaked and cried a little and then they took him over to be cleaned and I couldn't believe it that it was all over!From broken water to delivery in 10 hours and 35 minutes.

The rest as they say is history... he's adorable and so good and hardly cries and sleeps so well!

Enjoy the goo-fest below... he's too cute for words... the MOST beautiful baby ever!

Robert Walter Bolt II (Lil' Robby or "Squeaker" as I call him)
December 8, 2007
6lbs. 6oz
20.5 inches
Northside Hospital