April 2011

Well, as you can tell from our previous posts and hopefully you have received a text, email or phone call, Allison Catherine was born Wednesday, April 27th at 7:59PM. She weighed in at 6lbs and 12ozs and was 21 inches long. Deb went into labor in the early morning on Wednesday and she was content with her epidural by 1PM. After waiting for awhile and then a few more hours for the doctor, she pushed for 1 hour and baby Allison arrived! Randy and Anna were able to make it from West Virginia and my mom was there most of the day. Aunt Laura came in the evening and stuck around until she was born. It helps having connections at the hospital (Mom and Laura both work there), so we were able to score a suite which helped us accommodate our visitors and for us to get acquainted with little Allison. Aunt Julie purchased a wonderful “going-home” outfit (as you can see from the previous post) and Aunt Laura (with cousins Claire & Grace) decorated the door to our condo (also previously posted.) Aunt Beth (a pediatrician) has been a frequent sounding board for our first-time parent questions and also sent us a cookie bouquet!

We took our first walk on the MononWe were sent home on Friday evening and it has been much quieter at home. She was eating and sleeping most of the day, which made everything seem pretty easy! Naïve as we are she has started to wake up more and needing her diaper changed all the time. I don’t blame her, as it would be hard to sleep with a dirty diaper! Deb has been doing fantastic and I am sure it will continue as I am heading back to work tomorrow. For those who thought Deb required all the sleep in the world, she is doing very well with her numerous cat naps while Allison is sleeping. I am going to tentatively work a shorter day than usual the remainder of this week so I can get home and try to help Deb get in a nap or do stuff around the house…or just hang out with Allison!

We are off to our first doctor appointment today. It is quite an undertaking to schedule the feedings, work in our lunches, and really just praying she doesn’t melt down at the office. I’m sure it wouldn’t be the first time a kid cried in a pediatric office! And that is OK; it isn’t like we will be going to church or anything today!

All dressed up for the first doctor's appointment...Daddy with Allison at the doctor's officeWe celebrated Easter with the Carroll family by going to church and having a nice brunch. In the afternoon we were able to attend Chris Wahman's (Keith's cousin)18th birthday party.

Not much else is going to be posted this month as we did a lot of waiting for Allison during the month of April. As she becomes more alert, we will continue to learn what makes her happy and what makes her upset. It would be a lot easier of she just came with an instruction manual!

A few more items from this month:

*Deb was thrown baby showers at both Hurco and Methodist Sports Medicine (our employers). We received some great stuff and have already put most of it to use!

*We had some friends from Cincinnati (Depps) and Chicago (Ragos) visit earlier in the month. It was good to see those guys and we sat around and watched the Final Four…which Butler made another surprising run to the championship. Did we already mention Deb beat Keith in the NCAA bracket challenge, again.... 3rd year in a row!!!