"I like smiling, smiling's my favorite"

Tyler is 1 month old now! His major accomplishment in the last week is that he has started smiling. He would have little semi-smiles before, but now we can get him to really smile so his whole face lights up - it is so cute! :)

He had his 1 month check up, and everything is looking good. He was 9lbs 14oz, which means he's almost gained 2lbs since he was born. I guess he's getting enough food, even though he seems to spit up half of it every time he eats.

Today I took Tyler with me up to Wyoming high school after school to hang out with some of the girls. I haven't been able to go to the high school for young life for like the last 5 years, so it was really fun to get the opportunity. It was also really fun to take Tyler, a lot of the girls loved seeing him and I got to meet some new girls too. He's already attracting all the ladies!

Before I stop writing this post I need to post another funny picture - Tyler likes to make funny faces, as shown below.

Mug Cake!

So some of the YL girls brought us dinner last Thursday night (which was awesome!). One of the girls, Meg, told us about this recipe for "mug cake" - chocolate cake you can make in the microwave in a mug in 3 minutes. We tried it and it is amazing - I highly recommend it! In case anyone else wants to try it I thought I'd document the recipe here :)

Ingredients:
4 Tablespoons cake flour
4 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons cocoa
1 Egg
3 Tablespoons milk
3 Tablespoons oil
Dash of vanilla
3 Tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
1 mug

Directions:
1. Mix dry ingredients in a mug
2. Add all the other ingredients to the mug and mix
3. Microwave on high for 3 minutes
4. Enjoy!

1st Halloween

Tyler is 3 weeks old today! Time has seemed to go so fast since he arrived (of course, maybe that is because it was going extra slow when we were waiting for him to come). Yesterday we dressed him up in a halloween costume and went to Jeff and Nichole's to pass out candy. It was really fun! Of course, he slept wrapped up in blankets the whole time so the outfit was really just for us parents to get some cute pictures. :)

Here he is giving us a mean pirate look

In other news, Ed somehow convinced me to get a new TV. What really happened is, our current one (that is only 3 years old) broke "accidently" when Ed was moving it and, since we purchased the extended protection plan, we got a new one for "free" from Circuit City. Circuit City picked out a comprable one to give us, but in lieu of a birthday and christmas present, Ed decided to upgrade to a bigger TV. It looks awesome! The only thing I think it dumb is that when Circuit City replaces your TV through the protection plan, the protectino plan doesn't roll over to the new TV - you have to buy a new plan. Isn't that dumb? I think it should roll over - I guess it's just a way for them to make more money. Anyway, that is all for now.

First week home

Well we've been home a little over a week now! Things have been going pretty well - Tyler has been to the doctor already and is gaining weight, so that is good. We go back in about 2.5 weeks for his 1 month check up. It's crazy how fast time goes - he's almost 2 weeks old already!

So during this first week we quickly learned that we needed more burp cloths and blankets, as Tyler has started spitting up multiple times every time he eats. I also change clothes like 3 times a day because no matter what I do, he gets some spit up on me. OR, he pees on me while I change him (or the wall or the floor or himself). It's been lots of fun ;)

Here are some fun pictures from this week . . .

Ed and Tyler watching the Bengals game

Here he is after a bath

and here is a great picture of him about to spit up - great face

Last, here he is in his "dangerous" outfit Ed picked out for him

Tyler Dennis Buehler is here!

FINALLY!! ;) Well I was induced last Saturday, Oct 11- it was quite an adventure! We got to the hospital at 7am and I was hooked up to the IV by 7:30. The nurse we had at that point was a little crazy - she kept turning up the pitocin level, and she kept forgetting to come check on me. She was supposed to check ever 1/2 hour, and sometimes she would forget and it would be an hour. Also, if we asked her any questions she never had an answer. We really didn't like her, but we got a new nurse at the shift change at 4 and she was MUCH better. For awhile the contractions were bearable - we passed time playing games and watching TV and walking the hallways. About 4:30 - after 9 hours of labor, mind you - the contractions were really starting to hurt and were like 1 minute apart (because of the pitocin). The nurse checked me for progress at that point - and I was still 2cm dilated. They don't even consider labor to have started until you are 3cm dilated! I was very upset, because it seemed like I had just done all that for nothing. The doctor told me I could go ahead and get the epidural at that point (which wasn't that bad, actually) and then Dr. Bowen came in and broke my water. Ed said that was the grossest part of the whole labor, worse than the actual delivery! After that, I took about a 1.5 hour nap and apparently woke up and said "people who don't get epidurals are stupid!". The nurse checked me and I was 6cm dilated - yay! At some point, the pain worsened so I got some stronger drugs in the epidural. It was funny because the epidural was slightly off center, so I couldn't feel my left leg at all, but I could feel my right somewhat. I felt like gumby with my left leg. Finally around 9pm I was 10cm dilated and ready to push. At 9:53pm he was born! Here is a gross picture of him when he was born, and of Ed cutting the cord.

Here is the first family photo, taken the next day. He was quite a popular baby, all of the family and a lot of friends stopped by to say hi.

He came home Monday night. So far things have been going well! We were worried at first because he didn't poop from Sunday through Thursday, but he has that problem worked out now (you can use your imagination ;) ).

Rudi and and Oscar are adjusting well. Rudi is actually better than Oscar, surprisingly.

And here is one final cute one I took on one of his first days home.

October 11, 2008

Well, tomorrow is the day! We are going to be induced at 7am tomorrow. I had a doctor's appointment today for the ultrasound and check up. The ultrasound was good - the baby looks healthy! He's head down, which is good news. The "bad" news is that he's measuring 8lbs 8oz (ginormous!) and 19.5", so he's going to be chunky. :) The doctor said I'm 70% effaced and 2cm dilated, which is also good news - it means that I'm ready for labor to actually start. They "stripped my membranes" (not very fun) to see if that will cause me to go into labor today/tonight. Still no luck yet, so it looks like we'll have to use the drugs tomorrow to be induced. We are all eagerly awaiting the baby, especially Oscar

Due date come and gone . . .

. . . and no baby! grrrr. I guess he likes it in there, but I wish he would come out now! The suspense is killing us. I'm starting to think I'll never go into labor and I'll have to go induced, though Dr. Bowen claims that on average, women are 5 days late with their first baby. Right now I'm 2 days late, so it could definitely still happen! One nice thing is that I'm getting extra paid time off, so I can't complain. :) And I can't even begin to list all the projects I've completed around the house. And my scrapbooks is almost up to date! I just need to scrapbook Boston from this summer, then I have plans to scrapbook college graduation (I know that was like 3 years ago, but I really fell behind). And I've been baking A LOT. Ed and I went and picked apples last weekend at Irons fruit farm, and somehow we ended up with 57 apples. So I've made 2 apple pies, apple cake, and caramel apples. And, even after giving some away, we still have like 20 left!
It's funny when random people ask me when I'm due now. I was at Target on Thursday afternoon, and the cashier asked me when I was due. So I said "today, actually" and she got this really funny panicked look on her face, like "oh my god, why is she outside of her house?? her water is going to break right now!". It was really funny.

I have a doctors appointment scheduled for Friday Oct 1oth for a biophysical profile (in depth ultrasound) and non stress test. And while the doctor said he usually likes to wait 2 weeks after the due date to induce, he also said it is up to us. So if I'm still pregnant on Friday, I think we're going to ask to be induced before the full 2 weeks is up (based on the ultrasound results, too). We'll see!