Finally Home!

Charlie's audition for MTV's Cribs. Kickin it swaddle style. He looks so small in his own crib compared to the hospital nursery one.Home Sleep Home!

We made it home this afternoon. Charlie has been really good. Just put him down for what will hopefully be a nice little nap.

Charlie and His Aunties!

Aunt Nancy and Uncle Chris got to see Charlie during one of his few unhappy times.Charlie will get a lot of sarcastic sympathy out of his aunt and uncle! HA!
Aunt Sue went through a flight delay, a flight change, two security checks, and landed at a different airport just to get here to see the Big CW.

Charlie and Gretchen

Charlie and his mama right after he was born.Before his first 2 o'clock am feeding. He is on a schedule of eating every 2 1/2 to 3 hours and is getting really good at it.
We get to leave the hospital this morning. Gretchen and I can't believe that this is it, that we are taking him home today. It's exciting and scary and we are looking forward to the challenge. All reports on him from his pediatricians are that he is a big, healthy, strong, beautiful baby boy!

More Visitors

Granny and Grandaddy came over for some serious face time.Granny has only been waiting 33 years for this moment!
All of these visitors is making me exhausted....Snnnnorrrrrre.....

Charlie's Reoccuring Theme is Sleep!

Only 40 minutes old and fast asleep.


Who do you look like? Mama or Daddy?


Gramma and Grampa made it down from Iowa for a visit.

It's a boy!

Introducing Charles William Keeney! Charlie was born June 28th at 10:20 pm weighing in at 9 lbs, 10 ounces, 21.5 inches long. The nurses couldn't get over how big his hands and feet were. Mama and baby are doing great. Gretchen did an awesome job. I am so proud of her. More pictures to come.

39 weeks

These are probably our last belly photos taken yesterday at 39 weeks. We're both so excited about tomorrow. We can't wait to introduce all of you to Teeny Weeny Keeney!

In other news

We take a break from our regularly scheduled baby programming to bring you these other insights in Keeneyland.

Today Tony Blair steps down as British Prime Minister and Gordon Brown becomes the newest PM. In fact, I'm watching some of the coverage on BBC right now. Why the significance? In the fall of 2000 I spent a semester studying in London and spent most of my time interning at Hobsbawm Macaulay Communications PR agency under Sarah Macaulay who had just married Gordon Brown. People had told me he was the next in line to be PM, so it's kind of neat to see that happening now. It was a fun internship and the people I worked with did a great job of involving me in some great projects: the launch of a government report with Jack Straw, the Home Secretary (Secretary of State); the launch of an exhibit at the Victoria and Albert museum; and probably the highlight was a book launch on Downing Street. My semester in London as a whole was very memorable and important time in my life, so it's been fun to reminisce the last couple days as I've been following the news of the change in leadership.

Nursery

Finally, some nursery photos! For all intents and purposes, it's complete; just needs a couple more things on the walls and a baby to sleep in it. :) You can see the dogs on the other side of the gate. We've decided the nursery will be a dog-free zone, so we'll see how well they tolerate that.

We had our last checkup today, but there's nothing really new to report. I haven't really dilated any more, which I was kind of surprised about because I thought I'd been feeling some good contractions this week. But I am so thankful that my body has at least somewhat started the labor process so that the induction doesn't have to do everything. In fact, since I'm already dilated a couple cm, I don't have to come in the night before to have my cervix softened. So that's one less night in the hospital.

I spent some time yesterday with a friend and her 6-month-old daughter, and watching them together just got me so excited to meet my baby. Only 6 more days, if not sooner!

38 weeks

Now that we're getting toward the end, I've been wanting to get belly photos every week, so here they are for 38 weeks. I think my belly really looks bigger than it did 3 weeks ago! I know I definitely feel bigger than I did three weeks ago. My feet and hands are pretty swollen, and most of my maternity clothes don't even fit any more!

We are scheduled for induction next Thursday, June 28. I'm not thrilled about telling the baby to come out if he/she is not ready, but we're really trusting God and our doctor on this that whatever happens is what's meant to be. Even if that means I'm induced and the baby ends up only being 7 lbs, or something like that. As long as the baby and I are healthy, then it's all good. We're just so thrilled that we get to see our baby in a matter of days. In the meantime, just be praying for a healthy delivery and great L&D nurses and safe travels for family who is coming next week. I can't believe we're so close to the end of our pregnancy journey and beginning of our life as parents.

We've put the final touches on the nursery this week, so I promise pictures of it soon. :)

6/15 dr visit

So we had our sonogram to check the size of the baby, and everyone is in agreement that it's looking pretty big. At this rate, my doctor will not let me go until our due date, so Teeny Weeny Keeney will definitely be making his or her appearance within two weeks. They're going to schedule an induction somewhere around 39 weeks, which will put it around June 27 or so (pretty close to my June 28 prediction!). But honestly, Dave and I, and I think even the doctor, are hoping it will come on it's own before then (Dave's prediction is June 20). The baby continues to look very healthy on the sonogram, so while we're a little overwhelmed with all the talk of a big baby and inducing early, we're just thankful that the baby is healthy, and bottom line we're getting so excited to meet him/her!

And speaking of big, after a record week of weight gain, I think I'll refrain from sharing the weight stats from here on out. :)

Breaking it in

I was setting up the pack-n-play the other day, and we just couldn't resist breaking it in with one of our other "babies."

37 weeks

Look at that belly grow! As of Tuesday, we hit 37 weeks, which means the baby is officially full-term. So the car seat is installed and the hospital bags are packed, just in case!

6/8 check up

We've started the weekly check ups now, our first was yesterday. Weight gain: 34 lbs; belly: 35 cm; 2 cm dilated and 60% effaced. I was very surprised that I was dilated at all, but just because I am doesn't really mean much, I could sit at 2 cm for quite a while. But Dave is starting to think he may not get his wish of a 07/07/07 baby. We get to do another sono next week to check the size. So we'll have to get through one more without finding out the gender, but I think it will be pretty hard to tell at this point anyway.

We've also started our classes. We've had the first session (6 hours!) of the "Prepared Childbirth" class. It was a little overwhelming for me to get all that information at one time. In fact, after the class I even told Dave, "I don't want it to come out!" But I'm definitely feeling a lot better about it now. I know that no matter what I do or how I feel about it all, this baby will come out one way or another, and we'll finally get to hold Teeny Weeny Keeney in our arms (not to mention, we'll finally get to call him/her by its name!). We have our last session of that tomorrow, but it's more of the fun stuff, like what the baby will be like after it's born and the hospital tour.

We also took a breastfeeding class this week, too. Every expectant mom but one had her husband with her, so Dave was definitely not alone in this. In fact, I was impressed because the dads were the ones asking most of the questions. It was a great class. Again, a lot of information at once, but it really helped to manage our expectations of what it will be like to really get started at it. It's not as instinctual as one would think, so now I feel that we are equipped.

This whole experience has really made me appreciate God's work in creating us. The Big Guy really knew what he was doing. :) It's just amazing that He created my body to develop another human being without me having to do a thing (well, one thing, but God takes care of the rest). I just don't see how you can doubt a Divine Creator after experiencing a pregnancy. It's truly amazing. All the cliches about the "Miracle of Life" really are true.

5 years

My how time flies. Today is Dave's and my 5-year anniversary. In some ways it seems like just yesterday, but in others it seems like eons ago (and I mean that in a very good way). Our anniversary has kind of taken a back seat this year to the upcoming arrival of Teeny Weeny Keeney, but it still a special day nonetheless. We usually take a big trip every year around our anniversary, but this year we're staying put. However, we have a goal to get back to a beach next year, with or without the baby. This year we celebrated by going out to dinner earlier this week at the place we celebrated our first anniversary and enjoyed a yummy dinner while reminiscing.

I'm so thankful that after 5 years of marriage I can say I'd still do it all over again, and I can still call Dave my best friend.