Grandma/Grandpa Lovin' and Two Little Thumbs Up

Above are some pictures of Charlie basking in love from Grandpa Steve and Grandma Jan, who made the 6 hour trek on Monday and headed back to Iowa yesterday afternoon.  It was great to get to see them again and although he slept through most of the visit, Charlie quickly found his "nook" on both Grandma and Grandpa.  We are anxious to take Charlie back to Cascade next week so that he can meet all of his cousins and get some more lovin' from both sets of grandparents.

After a lot of debate, BJ and I decided that Charlie should see his first movie today.  Well, more like BJ and I really wanted to see a movie and since Charlie seems to have recently developed a case of narcolepsy during daylight hours, we thought we would roll the dice and see what happened.  We went armed with pacifiers, blankets, bottles and told ourselves that we would just leave if he made a peep.  Charlie did really well, slept through the first hour of the movie and when he made a little squeak I walked around with him out in the hall until he fell asleep again.  Although he slept through 95% of Sherlock Holmes he did give two baby thumbs up when we asked what he thought about the movie.  It might be a long time before we make it to another movie, but it was good for the employees of the movie theatre by our house to see me again in the flesh...I was starting to worry that they might issue an Amber Alert since they hadn't seen me in a few weeks.  Besides, I'm sure that the first step in losing baby weight is a big tub of buttered movie theatre popcorn, topped off with some Hershey Kisses with almonds that I smuggled in the diaper bag. 

Finally, a random picture of Copper and Ginger that cracks us up.  Despite having her own "large dog" dog bed, Ginger will randomly situate herself on Copper's dog bed.  In this picture, Copper was annoying her by trying to get her to play so she decided to ignore him from his throne.  Thankfully, they are both still doing really well with Charlie and vice versa.

Christmas, Birthday and BBQ Ribs

Merry Christmas!

We stayed in Kansas City this week and have enjoyed a quiet birthday/holiday celebration with the 5 of us.  We do miss seeing family, but we will see all of them in a little over a week when we take Charlie back to Cascade for his baptism.  Yesterday was BJ's birthday, so we celebrated by going out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse last night.  I'm not the best online shopper, so BJ's gifts this year consisted of the Wii Tiger Woods golf game from me and a book entitled "Why Every Son Needs a Dad" from Charlie.  Given all of Tiger's alleged misgivings, I was a little upset that I was contributing to his fortune; however,  BJ pointed out that Elin will probably split any profit that Tiger would have made off of my purchase.  Whew...I can sleep better tonight.

 I made peanut butter cup cookies for BJ's birthday and despite our best efforts to leave the cookies out of Ginger Girl's reach, she helped herself to a few while we were out to dinner.  Lucky for her, Santa already picked up gifts for she and Copper so it was too late to move her to the "naughty" list.  Thankfully neither BJ nor I have much willpower when it comes to cookies or chocolate so we ate 95% of the cookies before Ginger got her little paws on them.

Below are some pictures from our birthday dinner.  Charlie slept through the entire thing, so I am pointing to him to prove that he was actually in attendance.  I can't figure out how to get rid of our red eyes right now, so please know that it is user error and we have not been possessed by any demonic spirits.  BJ's assured me that his birthday was very nice.  Let's face it, nothing says "happy birthday" like some cinnamon butter rolls from Texas Roadhouse and a holiday-themed ram overlooking you as you eat dinner.








 





 





 







After opening BJ's birthday gifts we helped Charlie get his "Santa" plate ready.  We sampled one of the sugar cookies that I made for Santa and realized why Ginger chose the peanut butter cup cookies while we were out.  Santa managed to eat a few cookies, but probably took the rest with him for the remainder of his journey to use as weapons in case he encountered any criminals along his way.  Charlie's list to Santa was pretty minimal this year since he really isn't into toys yet.  When we woke up this morning his stocking was full some wrist rattles, toys to attach to his car seat and a few "soft" books for him to chew on.  Copper and Ginger scored some milkbone biscuits and rawhide chewies.








One of my co-workers gave Charlie this cute "Santa" plate, which will be used for many years.












Yes, I am wearing flannel penguin jammies.  We were invited to an "ugly pajama" Christmas party last December and I picked up this little number for the event.  Turns out, they are really comfy and given my knack for keeping clothes for waaaaaaaaaay too long in my wardrobe, they will probably make an appearance for the next 15 winters.










We're just hanging out today feasting on random food and enjoying "Miracle on 34th Street" and "It's a Wonderful Life".  If we had attended church this morning the whole day would have seemed very Norman Rockwell-like.

Finally, a picture of Charlie Boy in his Christmas outfit.  He just finished eating in this picture so he's in his "food coma" pose.  We hope that you all had a great Christmas! 

Oreo Crumbs and Bathtime

We've had a big couple of days in the Gehl Supple household. Charlie had his first pediatrician's appointment on Monday, went out to lunch at Panera with BJ and I on Wednesday and enjoyed his first "non-sponge bath" bath today.

I was holding Charlie earlier today and explaining to him how he was starting to smell a little and that it was time for a real bath. I glanced down at his little head and noticed little black specks of dirt. How could he possibly have gotten this dirty? I then realized that I had been eating a few Oreos earlier and the remnants of those Oreos ended up on Charlie's head. Sorry Charlie!

I was nervous about giving Charlie his first bath, convinced that the water would be too hot. It probably didn't help that BJ kept repeating the "hot water burn baby" line from Rain Man. We all survived and Charlie now smells like lavender-scented baby wash. Below are a couple of G-rated pics from our first bath adventure.

A Grandma, Aunts and Cousins - Oh My!

We were lucky enough to have many visitors this weekend...all of whom braved Iowa's winter wonderland roads to make the trek to Kansas City.

My mom, sister (Molly) and three nieces (Emma, Claire and Hannah) decided on Thursday that after being home-bound for the last few days in Iowa, it was a great time to come and see Charlie. My nieces did a great job of holding Charlie and "sharing" him with one another and Charlie loved the extra TLC. It was especially nice to see my mom and sister again when I wasn't coming off of my post c-section meds!













BJ's sister Jenn and her boyfriend Sam also came to meet Charlie this weekend. We had a great dinner with them at our house on Friday night and got to see them again on Saturday morning before they headed back to Iowa.







On Saturday night I was able to leave the house for a few hours to grab a quick dinner with the "girls" (mom, sister, nieces) and do a little bit of shopping. Charlie stayed at home with BJ and two of our friends, Gavin and Jon, and enjoyed his first guys' night by watching the Heisman trophy ceremony.




We loved getting to see so many family members and friends and look forward to a quiet week this week.

Middle of the Night Feedings and Epiphanies

In the midst of this winter wonderland, we are continuing to do really well at home. BJ took all of this week and is taking all of next week off, so it's been nice to try to get used to this parenting thing together. If Charlie had his way, he would spend 20 hours a day asleep on BJ's chest...it has definitely become his niche.

The last few nights haven't been bad at all. I've napped in the early evening, which has helped when Charlie's decided to have a little awake time in the middle of the night. I've used the mother-son bonding time to fill him in on family members and the latest current events, as well as read a couple of books. During those middle of the night hours, I/we have had a few epiphanies:

1. As scared as I was for labor and delivery, I am almost equally scared to cut Charlie's nails. I've heard all of the "tricks" (do it when he is sleeping, use a baby file, peel them off, etc.). I'm not questioning these tricks, but the thought of causing one of his little fingers to bleed is frightening.

2. "Goodnight Moon" is not for everyone. "Goodnight Moon" was one of the handful of books that I chose to read aloud to Charlie when he was known as Poppy and every time that I read it I wondered how it was considered a "must-have" baby book. Lines such as - "Goodnight light. And the red balloon. Goodnight bears. Goodnight chairs." - leave me begging for more of a plot to the story. I worried that if I questioned the quality of "Goodnight Moon" aloud before having Charlie that my "mom" card would never be issued; however, I read it aloud to Charlie last night and he was equally unimpressed.

3. It is pointless to watch the 5:00 Am traffic report when it will be another 11 weeks before I am commuting.

4. Even though I think that Charlie has finished filling his diaper does not mean that he will not have additional deposits to make during and after a diaper change. If only a little bell would ring when he was truly finished...

5. In light of the over-the-top media coverage of Tiger & Elin Woods' marital problems, BJ and I discussed and agreed that if we ever decide to cheat, we will at least be smart enough not to send any text messages or record any voicemails for said third party. Whew - I'm sure glad that we cleared that up.

6. Never buy anything that is advertised on TV, especially if it is advertised between the hours of 1-4 AM. At first I thought that I was catching a rerun of Saturday Night Live, but it was commercial for some sham-wow product and the salesman looked completely deranged and was yelling at the camera. I'm not saying that it isn't a good product, but most of the tactics used during the infomercial are similar to those used by cult leaders.

7. The last few days have flown by and the only "sad" thought I've had is that the next 11 weeks are going to fly by as well, so I'm going to do the mature thing and be in complete denial about returning to work until late February.

Happy winter wonderland to all.

Welcome Home Charlie

We were discharged from the hospital yesterday (Sunday) afternoon and have been enjoying home ever since. Both Charlie and I were beginning to think that we lived at the hospital - we were both bright-eyed and gawking at the outside world on the 10 minute drive home.

Our first 24 hours at home have been great. I think everyone is enjoying some uninterrupted sleep and just generally having our own space.

The "meet your siblings" introduction yesterday also went well. Ginger was happy to see us and has been parking herself next to the pack-n-play or outside of Charlie's room in a laid-back, motherly mood. Copper isn't sure what to think. He hasn't shown any signs of aggression, just looks at BJ or I for reassurance when Charlie starts to cry, but has otherwise ignored him. If I hear him head out to the garage and start one of our cars, I'll be concerned, but everyone seems to be ok.

Below are a few pictures of us checking out of the hospital and Charlie in his "going home" outfit. As Ty Pennington of Extreme Makeover Home Edition would say, "Welcome home Charlie, welcome home."

Day Two

Greetings to all of our family and friends. Thank you so much for the well wishes, calls, texts, emails and flowers over the last day or so. We are definitely feeling a lot of love in our hospital room.

We are all doing great. Charlie Stephen is a very sweet little boy who is doing well and I can't remember any thing other than him being important. It's amazing how one minute I was concerned with responding to work emails in a timely manner and now I'm concerned with the number of "soiled" vs. "wet" diapers, APGAR scores and his body temperature. It's great. BJ has stepped into the dad role very quickly and is quickly becoming the expert in calming Charlie down if he is crying. I think that he and Charlie's initial bonding time while I was coming out of anesthesia was really great and I'm only a little disappointed that I missed it.

I'm feeling great as well - just a little sore from my incision and moving a little slow when I'm getting up, but a very small price to pay for having a healthy (i.e. chubby) baby boy. Seriously, he has a full tummy and thighs...I may be regretting having washed a bunch of newborn onesies and sleepers :)! I won't get into the details of our labor and delivery story here (because it mainly involved a lot of laying around without any progress and a lot of anesthesia), but I just want to say that parades should be thrown in epidural's honor, Hallmark should create a card to send to anesthesiologists who administer epidurals, and the day that the epidural was invented should be considered a national holiday. I know that women given birth in hospitals, houses and huts every hour without any pain medication but I can assure you that I would not be able to do that - no amount of "hee hee whoo" would have helped. For those of you who did it without any drugs - you need to get a shirt that says "I birthed a baby without any pain medication" and wear it proudly every day. If I see you wearing said shirt, I will let you cut in front of me in any lines and bow in your honor.

We are still at the hospital and may be until Sunday, but there is a chance that we will be discharged tomorrow afternoon. We are anxious to get home and introduce Copper and Ginger to Charlie. BJ's assured me that every time that Copper has smelled Charlie's hat in the last two days, he has smiled and not shown any aggression. I'm choosing to believe that.

Thanks again for all of your well wishes - we are completely smitten and feel very blessed. Attached are a host of pictures from visitors over the last few days and one of me that doesn't look nearly as scary as the one that BJ previously posted...still a little scary, but at least without an oxygen mask and washcloth on my face.

The Longest & Best Day

This is going to be brief, as the Editor-in-Chief is napping, and I don't want to compete with her amazing blogging skillz. So I'll just share some pictures of our handsome and quite large Charlie. But lets backtrack a little. The picture above was taken when we were told that after 20 hours of waiting for Carey to dilate to 10, she wasn't going to get past 8 anytime soon. So insert the "C" scenario. Off she goes at 11pm, I was told they will be in to get me in about 15 minutes. The 15 comes and goes, and finally they say, "sorry, we need to put her under and you can't be in the room for delivery." Ugh. Right around 12:20ish, in walked 2 nurses with a baby and told me he was mine. I had to take their word for it, and after being stressed for about 30 more seconds, they passed Charlie to me, and it was over. Waterworks. Unbelievable feeling. Charlie and I hung out for a while, and around 1:15 they wheeled in the mother.

Carey will have more from here, but enjoy the pics and we look forward to sharing Charlie with all of you soon!