Our little animal

I'm sure you are all just in stitches to hear about our Kaylor.

We got home with no problems Tuesday afternoon. Ginny took a few days to recover and is still a little sore but has approved much.

We went to two doctor's appointments already for Kaylor. The resident neonatologist encouraged us to see Kaylor's (PCP) primary care physician within 3 days of discharge. The neo and Kaylor's PCP agreed that she needs to see an opthamologist because a blocked tear duct in her left eye. We have an appointment in mid-January.

We have, of coursed, altered our sleeping habits. Ginny is learning quickly to sleep when the little one sleeps.

Our animal has made several humorous noises which resemble different animals: ducks, dogs, velocirapters, elephants and even the goat from the last fifteen minutes of Willow.

We are very grateful to everyone that has brought us meals and extended their services to us. My sister stayed a few days with us and my parents also came in town to lend a hand and spend Christmas with us. Ginny's mom arrived Sunday and will be here through 3 Jan.

We have bathed her a few times and found out quickly that she goes straight from the bath to a towel or you get this.

This girl pees like a race horse! She's peed on Ginny a few times and has pooped on us as well.

That leads us to the next question most of you are dying to ask...how are the cloth diapers?

We have been keeping her in regular diapers until we get a better handle on when she goes. We used one today and even used our sprayer to rinse it out in the toilet. Worked like a charm.

I'm sorry the only picture I have is her peeing on me but I will definitely post more later, I'm sure.

Of course, we had a great Christmas with everyone here. We were

Welcome to the world bubble!!!!

This is Aunt Bea (aka Ouiser) reporting from the front line about the birth of our new little addition... Tim and Ginny are unable to update from their ipad, so I'm here to let you all know a little bit about how things went!!!

Saturday about 5am Ginny started having more consistent birthing waves and had a feeling the miracle of birth was starting so she woke Tim up to tell him it was time to go to the hospital, his response when she said "hey it's time" was "YAY!!!!" so they went to the hospital to check everything out, and she was still at 2cm and the birthing waves were coming about every 2-3 min lasting 60-90 seconds, and she was effaced about 65% so they did some tests and thought she may be dehydrated which would cause the birthing waves to come closer together, but they weren't terribly strong at this point, and not being more dilated or effaced and her water still in tact at this point they gave her some fluids and the waves lessened a little bit and they asked her about 10:30am if she wanted them to start her on pitocin to start inducing the labor along or let her go home to ride out the waves till the little blessing decided she was ready to come, and they decided to come home...

The birthing waves were consistent through out the day, and gradually got stronger and about 10:30pm it was getting to be a little more strong and they decided to come up to the hospital to get ready for her to come. Ginny was still only at 2cm and had gotten to 60% effaced so they checked her in and put her in the labor/delivery/recovery room and she was a real trooper, Leesa and I were in there for a little while, and she was doing her breathing techniques and taking on those birthing waves like a champ!!! At 1am she was 3cm and 80% effaced and still going strong... she slowly went up to about 5-6cm at 4:15am and at 4:50 her water broke!!! It was game on at that point!! Tim called the nurse in and when the nurse came in to check her and thought they probably still had a ways to go b/c it had been going slowly up till then, but when she saw the water and checked her she pushed the nurses station button and said "CALL HIM" (meaning the dr) he got there about 20 min later , and after 4 pushes little Kaylor Michelle Garner was welcomed into the world at 5:54am on December 18, 2011 weighing in at 8lbs 3oz 19 1/4 in long..

Kaylor Michelle Garner

Daddy and Kaylor

Mommy and Kaylor

She is a sweet, calm and amazing little baby girl, and our family is so lucky to have her join us... the only time she makes noise is when she is hungry, or someone is messing with her feet or taking her temperature... She has mom's eyes and daddy's nose and lips (in my personal professional opinion:) )

She loves her mom and dad and looks around for them when they are talking.

Aunt Bea and Auntie Leesa are her favorites, and are more than ready to spoil this little girl... And she can't wait to meet the rest of her family in California at Easter!!

Auntie Leesa and Kaylor

Aunt Bea and Kaylor

Family, isn't it about...time?

For those of you Mormons out there, I hope you recognize the reference. If not, Google the title and watch some great videos from yesteryear.

Ginny started having more birthing waves (contractions) last night. How fitting that she was working. Yes, she's 39.5 weeks and still working; relentless! The birthing waves were semi-strong and sporadic so we didn't think too much of it. They tapered off around 8 pm and started back about 10. She woke up about 500 and got me up about 530 saying, "Hey babe, I think it's time." They were about 60 seconds each and 2-4 minutes apart. I excitedly got out of bed and we left about 6 to head for the hospital. We checked in at 2 cm and 50 % effaced. They monitored her for an hour and the doctor suggested to get in some fluids. After the RN struck a vein, literally, and cleaned up a minor pool of blood that came from the vein (silly RN), Ginny received fluids for about an hour and her birthing waves lessened and spread apart. The RN checked her again and she was still 2 cm but about 65% effaced. She talked to the dr. and he gave us the option of going home or staying and getting some pitocin to promote induction but we declined. We came back and spent some time with Ouizer and Leesa then took a well-deserved nap.

We just went for a walk and the birthing waves are getting a bit stronger and again are 2-4 minutes apart. The water bag has yet to break.

To explain the birthing waves, we are using a birthing technique that involves self-hypnosis. The technique comes from Hypnobabies and Ginny has been very diligent researching this. We use different terminology like birthing waves instead of contractions and birthing time instead of labor because of the implications on the inner mind with those words. Contractions sounds like something is inhibiting rather than providing a progressive moment. Labor sounds intense and like work.

Hopefully our little girl will decide to come soon and stop playing around. You would think she would rather be outside where there is a ton more room, right?! So, until then, we will just watch Utah State beat Ohio in the Idaho Potato Bowl. Bubble, isn't it about...time?!?!?

Our bags are packed and we're ready to go...

We are packed and ready to go to the hospital any day now. We are just waiting on our little girl to make her decision. Ginny is one day shy of 39 weeks. She is being a trooper. We keep telling the bubble that there is plenty of room out here instead of being trapped inside. She likes to push our on ginny's belly, a lot!

I thought I would sing the bubble a little song to help her make her final decent. You might recognize the tune.

The bubble will come out, tomorrow

bet your bottom diaper that tomorrow,

she will come.

When your stuck in a place, that's dark, wet and gloomy

just stick your head through and come out to sayyayayayayyayay,

ooooooooohhhhhhhhh

The bubble will come out tomorrow!

We both wish it was tomorrow, if not today! Maybe I should stop singing to the bubble and she'd want to come out. Haha. We are ready for her whenever she comes. We are super excited to meet her and cannot wait.

de' Bubble in de' belly

First, here is a current picture of Ginny at 38 weeks:

Second, our friend Sierra took some pictures of our lil' family. She is an amateur photographer, but you really would think she is professional, as you will see below. Here are a few of our favorites. She took them at a local hotspot, no pun intended. This is the ruins of the old Hammond high school that burned down.

Per request

We went to the doctor today. Ginny is about 1 cm and the doctor said we have another week at least. This is very good news for us because I am still in finals and my sister is going out of town this next weekend. So, after she gets back, the bubble can come anytime. My sister has texted the bubble to make sure she she understands this. The bubble can only text because she can't use her vocal chords under water, duh!

Here are some cute baby things we have. I may or may not have played around by putting a stuffed reindeer Donnie gave us in the stroller, but we left him out of the pictures.

Here is the crib Ginny's parents bought for us. Ginny's mom made the quilt, sheet and dust ruffle seen here. There are other sheets she made as well with other similar material.

Ginny is a bit obsessed with frogs so we have added to our collection:

The quilt:

A sheet and bed/dust ruffle:

Here is the changing table that goes with the crib:

Ginny's glider and the bubble's diaper bag:

Our high-tech stroller:

It's beginning to smell like Christmas!

Ginny and I went and bought our first Christmas tree together. It's the 2nd real Christmas tree I remember having. Ginny thinks it is a Frasier Fir. It's about 5' which is perfect for us. Ginny's mom gave her all of her childhood ornaments. It is definitely very cute. Below are before and after shots of the tree decorated. I'm not going to label them because I'm pretty sure you can figure it out. I actually tried to put them side by side but have yet to become a professional at this.

Sidetracked

This morning, I woke up to finish a paper that is due next week. My homepage is LDS.org and I saw there was a new video I haven't watched from Mormon Messages. Of course, I'd rather do anything than finish my paper but I also felt I needed to watch the video. I did. It helped. I hope it lifts your day as well!

Pumpkin addiction

Ginny is slightly obsessed with pumpkin. Anything pumpkin. Cookies, shakes, custard, donuts, cakes and even stew.

Today, she conjured up a delicious pumpkin cheesecake. It was amazing. The bubble liked it too! Ginny's mom flew in last week for the shower and made pumpkin stew. It was awesome! Ginny baked the left-over pumpkin, pureed it and baked it into a cheesecake. Here's a slice.

Clothes, clothes and more clothes

We recently had many great additions added to our wardrobe. Well, that's not completely true. The clothes added were all for the bubble. We spent three loads washing them all. Most of them have come from family and friends of which/whom we are truly grateful. We think we are set for the first 3 mos. for sure and have a good start on the first 6 mos. However, who is to be certain. I was informed Friday that the baby will not come with an instruction manual. REALLY?!?! Ha. I replied with, "It will. It's in the placenta, I'm sure. It'll probably be taped to it like a shipping label and I'll just have to look for it."

Here is a picture of the clothes we washed.

We also washed the bubbles' diapers. They have to air dry. Soon, a little cute baby bum will fill those. Can't wait.

Ginny and I are getting ready. She is feeling the last trimester and trying to be optimistic about it. There are some growing pains but she is working through them. So, physically and mentally, we are preparing as best we can.

As a selfish plug, we still have items on our Target and BabiesRUs registries which have yet to be sent to us. If you can't find something on there that is within your price range, we accept all forms of gift cards and even ca$h. Ok, sorry if that's tacky but I'll take the heat for it. Anything for our wonderful new bundle of joy. If you have sent us something, we are sincerely grateful! She should be here within the next 4 weeks. Hooray!

November 5

Ginny planned a spectacular surprise birthday for me. Some (not all) of my closest friends were there. The day started with breakfast at a local place here with some close friends. Then Ginny and I went to lunch at Albasha and shopped for a bit. Then we went and saw In Time. It wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be. Then, we went to the house and I was surprised by my friends and family. We watched the LSU game and had a grand ole' time.

Maternity Pics by Sierra

This past weekend we ventured to the old Hammond high school to shoot some great shots with the amazing and ever lovely Sierra Kennedy with some great props by Ouizer and Lee-Lee and Josh. Here are some shots. As a disclaimer from Sierra, they are not edited so all of the magic isn't there. These are just a few. I didn't want to spoil all of them.

They're here!!

We decided a long time ago to save ourselves some cash and save the environment by diapering our child with cloth instead of disposable material. We ordered them Sunday night and got them today. So, here are few pictures and...for the first time ever...a video!!!

I decided I wanted to test out the diapers so I grabbed the closest thing to me and diapered our water bottle.

Our new freshly diapered water bottle; isn't she cute:
We used a website called Cotton Babies and picked the brand Bum Genius. We love them. There are 18 and each one is adjustable and comes with 2 different sized inserts. Check out the video to get a demonstration from yours truly.

Wow, such a difference

So, I've been called to repentance about not updating the blog as much. I'm sure I have nothing else better to do. HAHA. Of course, we both wish we had more time to update but sometimes it's not the first priority. BUT. Here is a great post to make up for it.

So, I took the below pictures of Ginny only a week apart. See any improvement?

She is almost 33 weeks. I know the angles and distances are a bit different in the pictures but there is a noticeable difference, right?! I'm pretty sure my exact words were, "Ginny, Oh my gosh," when I compared the two pictures. Everything is going well with the mom and baby. Of course, there is some discomfort when sleeping and sitting and the fingers are naked of rings (not without protest from her). However, she is perfectly healthy and quite satisfied. We are both quite anxious for our new arrival. And, no name as of yet.

In other news, Ginny just finished some more revisions for her Thesis. We aren't sure it will ever end. I am still in school and slated to graduate at the end of Summer. We have been looking for grad schools for me but are undecided. Ginny and I both still have two jobs. Although, football season is coming to a close but the subbing jobs are picking up. I'm not sure either of us will ever know what it is to file taxes for just one employer.

I hope this is sufficient for today. I'm sure I will post more later but I've got to get back to the important things in life...like The Biggest Loser!

The air is hummin' and somethin' great is comin'.

Sondheim definitely made it clear that somethin' is around the corner. We just had a cold front come through and I love it. Even though our landlord is a bit behind in insulating our house, I love the crisp, cool weather of fall. So excited!

Also, on a different note, Ginny just finished coaching volleyball. For this, I am truly grateful. The added payment will help with expenses but I'm ready to have my wife back. One of her 7th grade students emphatically told me, "You are my background." Apparently, she snapped a picture of me on her phone and I am her background. They all lovingly call me Baby Daddy because they don't know my name. It's quite humorous.

Lazy day!

Today has been a lazy day. Ginny and I came home from church, laid and bed and haven't moved since we came home. It's 609 amd we've only left the bed to eat and do what happens after you eat. It's been a great day! Full of feeling the baby girl move, watching Oprah, watching soccer,and chilling. Awesome!!

29 weeks

As of Thursday, 6 October, Ginny will be 29 weeks. She passed her glucose test this past Monday and also had a Rhogam (Google if you don't know what the shot does, exactly)shot. Ginny has a negative (-) blood type and mine is positive (+) so she needed the shot incase her blood starts building antibodies and delivering those to the bubble. And for those wondering, we have yet to pick out a name.

So, a little story from our day out. The day we went to get Ginny's blood work, we had some time to kill in between the blood work and getting her Rhogam shot. We decided to go to shop at two of our favorite stores, Kohls and Kirklands. As we drove up to the shopping center, we noticed a car parked on the sidewalk of Hobby Lobby.

Yes, a woman made her own parking spot. Insane! Then, as we were going to lunch, we found another guy who was making a u-turn at a intersection didn't quite make it. He ended up driving up on the curb of the opposite lane of traffic and blocked a whole lane. It was a day to remember, for sure.

Also, as a final thought, I've updated our blog look because I love the fall. I'm so happy it's here and hope this amazing weather is here to stay forever!

12 minutes for fast food?

I'd like to blame today's craving for McDonald's on my pregnant wife's craving but I just can't. Anyway, I went through the drive-thru and asked for my usual, chicken nuggets and then they had something new, sweet potato pie, uhm, OK! So, after I got Bon Qui Qui on the intercom and ordered everything she had the kindness to say, "It's going to be 12 minutes for the sweet potato pie." Ugh, what?!?! Are you making it from scratch? Is it a real pie? Holy crap. Needles to say, I didn't wait for my sweet potato pie.

Bible Lit

I'm in a Bible Literature class and it's very interesting. Today, we had a presentation on Songs of Solomon and the presenter tied in polygamy. Several comments were made to the presenter as suggestions including, "Why don't you research one religion that supports polygamy and compare it to Christianity." When the presenter said she wasn't sure which religion she could choose, someone, of course, shouted out, "MORMONS." Several people agreed. I just sat back, knowing I would have to intervene but quite unsure how to do it without sounding rude. My teacher, thankfully, spoke up and explained the mainstream Mormon church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, doesn't practice polygamy. It was a breath of fresh air. I was glad someone in there was educated on our practices. It amazes me how many people automatically jump to us when discussing polygamy, insisting we still practice it.

The Ah-mazing Ginny

If you haven't figured out yet, I, Tim, am the one who updates the blog. It's an honor to have her as a wife. Let me just fill you in on her life right now. She is pregnant, of course. She coaches JV and Varsity volleyball at the SeLU Lab School, a head ache in itself. She also substitute teaches the poor children of our parish. She also works PRN for a local health system as her ATC. She also just qualified for her local Louisiana licensure (a very long, tedious process) and can now put LAT at the end of her name, as well. Then, she is still trying to finish her thesis; an on-going process due to lack of help from people who work with her. And to top it all off, I came home from school today to fresh baked croissant rolls, homemade and chicken salad, homemade. It was amazing! I am so blessed. Thank you, Ginny for being amazing!

Waste of paper

Ginny received a letter from her student loan company. On one side was the message below (in picture). The back side was the privacy statement. That was all. No signature, no regards, no sincerely. It was quite hilarious.

I like pizza, Steve. I LIKE it.

Ginny and I made our first pizza together. It had turkey pepperoni, pineapple and cherry tomatoes. It was super delicious. We even put string cheese in the crust to make it stuffed crust. We basted the sides in butter and italian seasoning. And by we, I mean Ginny. I did eat the pizza. Believe me, it was super-duper hard to eat. ;-)

Below are pictures of before and after:

We're on our way.

We took a trip to NOLA today to the nearest Babies R Us to register. If you'd like to check it out and send us a lil summin' summin', we would be more than happy. It is a hopeless plea for help, of course! We will probably register for some stuff at Target as well. New parents, if you see anything that isn't on the registry that you couldn't live without, please let us know. Also, we are taking donations in the forms of cash, checks, money orders, cashier's checks, traveler's checks, and gift cards. Let me know if you need our address!

Also, we are thinking about trying out cloth diapers. Any suggestions? Now, before any of you get all negative, we have found a kind that is cloth on the outside and has a biodegradable, removable pad liner. They are newer and highly improved than when I was a kid. If any of you have heard anything about the newer kinds, please let us know. We would also buy disposable diapers for trips and such. I'm also saying this so we don't have an influx of disposable diapers because we may not use them all.

Practice for what is to come.

This past week, Ginny watched a friend of our's little girl. We got some practice on changing diapers, feeding and helping each other. It was a great experience. She's pictured passed out. She only likes to be held upside down.

Here is a picture of Ginny at 24.5 weeks. What a gorgeous sight.