Worlds collide

I'm in the lab today running columns that will separate salt from DNA. I just finished my first column and as I was removing my sample I thought to myself (and fortunately did not say out loud) "Okay, we're going to let the salt pass through the column while mommy goes and pumps." All I can say in response is, "wow". Apparently, as a result of being a mom, I now detail my every move and refer to myself as "mommy". Even to a G-25 Sephadex column. Wow.

No Whey, Jose!

We found out this week that Ethan is allergic to dairy products. Bless his heart, his stomach has been so upset! Bless my heart - no more icecream!

I will say that it is extremely difficult to eat absolutely no dairy products. Yes, the lack of icecream and iced mochas is devastating - but did you know that there is milk in Taco Seasoning?! I'm not lying! I thought I had planned the perfect non-dairy menu last night. Tacos - minus the cheese and sour cream - with corn salsa and avacados. Not a problem, right?! Wrong. It turns out that there are whey solids - a milk product - in taco seasoning. I had already browned the meat and the corn salsa with avacados was already made, so I had to proceed. The heroine of Little Women, Josephine March, said "Necessity is indeed the mother of invention," so I made my own taco seasoning. A lot of chili pepper, some cumin, a little of a bunch of other seasonings and voila! The non-dairy menu was saved!

If any of you have really tasty non-dairy recipes, send them my way!

Wow time flies!

I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by. Ethan is 6 weeks already! He is getting so big and becoming more alert every day. We are absolutely loving getting to know him. He loves music and loves to laugh and LOVES to snuggle! He took a bottle for the first time last week. This I didn't know - not everyone likes their beverages of choice to be ice cold and refreshing. (Please note that any comments of "Duh!" will be resented and deleted immediately. In my defense, I will say that I ran the bottle under hot water for a long time and I was rushing because he was very hungry!) I now know how to properly heat a bottle and he does very well with them. This worked out beautifully when Ryan and I got to go out on our first date in 6 weeks on Friday. (Which by the way - go see Fireproof if you haven't already. It is so good!) At his last dr's appointment he weighed 11 lbs and we found out that he has a lymph node. (This is a slightly embarrassing story. Apparently, they're pretty common and nothing to worry about. I would like to add that I am a chemist and we are not required to take anatomy and physiology!!)



He gives me this look all the time!




Here we are at a pumpkin patch that we went to with our friends Jim and Taryn and their precious daughter Tessa. This was the first of hopefully many dates for Ethan and Tessa. :)



As I'm writing this the boys are taking a Sunday afternoon nap - which is what I should be doing! Adios!

I wish this could be scratch and snif...

because this baby smells so good! I am very happy (extremely happy!) to say that his umbilical cord fell off yesterday and we were able to give him his first real bath this afternoon! Oh the things I get excited about now. But it was so awesome, and he really does smell good!

I would like to say that today marks one week that Ryan and I have been taking care of this little fella all by ourselves and I'm happy to add that it hasn't gone too bad. I have learned that even a decaf iced mocha at 8:30 pm is not the best option if you want to sleep at all through the night, but other than that, it's been pretty good. Speaking of the fam, my dad and brother joined my mom here last weekend. Ethan loved seeing his Pops again and meeting his Uncle Nathan for the first time.











Ethan especially loved hearing his Pops sing and play the guitar. Check out the video.

He's Here!!

And I have never been more in love! We welcomed the most beautful and perfect baby boy into our lives on the evening of September 3rd! I can't believe that two weeks have already gone by. They really have gone by so quickly. I can't even recap the past two weeks. They have been an absolute blur, but I have loved every second of them. Everything from giving him his first sponge bath and going on our first walk together to rocking him to sleep at 2:30 in the morning and kissing his soft chubby cheeks - it has been so amazing! I really can't believe that he's mine. He's changing every day - getting SO big. Here are some pictures!

Ethan's Nursery

My sister was in town this weekend. It was so much fun! I love hanging out with her. We got to work on Ethan's nursery while she was here - and by we, I mean mainly her. Ya'll I am so excited! Ethan's room is cooler than mine! Thank you Charissa!

Baby Update

I went to the doctor today and everything was perfect. The baby's heart rate was awesome and his head was in the right position. No big changes, infact, I really have nothing too exciting to report. The doctor told me my home-work, due at my next appointment, was to change. I'm going to do my best! :)

I got really excited the other night because I was having contractions every thirteen minutes, then every eight minutes, it got all the way down to five minutes, but the fact that I could play Scrabble through them told me that this wasn't really a big deal. They of course went away...but they'll come back!

What do you mean it's not a science?!

So it all started last Tuesday afternoon. I was having some serious contractions. And what do I mean by serious? Like the movies, where you have to stop and someone tells you to breathe and everything! I love drama! Well, the drama soon dissipated and I was left wondering what in the world had just happened. So I decided to call some of my friends who had recently experienced childbirth and ask them for any advice that they might have.

Pause for a moment.

I am a scientist by training. When we do an experiment, we follow a certain protocol and expect specific results. These protocols are written up in fancy science magazines called journal articles and if at any time we want to repeat an experiment, we look it up and it typically works. Kind of like a recipe. We call this reproducibility. It's fabulous. Safe, predictable, controlled.

Now, back to Tuesday afternoon.

Understanding my background, you might now understand why I somewhat naively expected them to say... "Yes, of course, I have this written down somewhere. Oh, here it is...30 days before my due date I began having serious contractions and then they went away 3 hours later and then 28 days later I had the baby." What I heard instead from my friends and family members was that it was different for all of them. And this has been the case for everyone I ask. No two stories alike. And then my childbirth class teacher said this, "Labor is not a science." What?!

It's not as if I really expected it to be one. I've seen enough TLC. But deep inside I think I wanted it to be one. Why? That would make it safe, predictable, and controlled. I would be prepared. I think what I'm trying to say is that this uncertainty, this unknown territory that I am approaching is slightly terrifying! The only thing that is consistent is that there will be pain, it will at some time come 5 minutes apart (and knowing my luck it will jump from 7 to 3 minutes, really throwing this scientist off!)

I was thinking about this at breakfast one morning, somewhat frustrated that I really have no idea what is about to happen - and then I remembered Scripture that I had memorized years ago, Proverbs 3:5, "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding." My understanding of childbirth is so limited, there is nothing to lean on, and even if I would spend years doing careful research, it still could end up being different from my actual experience. All I can do is trust. This isn't like going into an exam fully prepared. I have no idea how to prepare. I have to let go of my wish to control, believe that God is in control, and completely trust Him.

So what I've learned from all of this is that, although journal articles are necessary for work, it's better that I stick to another Journal for life. :)

I'd like to thank...

Did you ever see that movie Clueless? I have to admit, when I was 16, I thought this movie was awesome! The other day I was thinking about different situations, and different people that I have been so thankful for during my pregnancy. And what exactly does this have to do with Clueless? Well there is this scene, where the teacher (the bald guy from The Princess Bride) is going through his class list and the amount of days they had been tardy, and apparently one of the guys (Travis) had been tardy, I'm thinking 32 days or some crazy number. And Travis gets up behind the desk and begins to go into a "thank you" speech, Oscar style. "And I'd like to thank the people at McDonalds who spend hours making those delicious breakfast sandwiches, without which I might never be tardy." I couldn't believe I had remembered so much from that scene and I literally laughed out loud. But it got me thinking about all of the people and all of the things that have happened throughout my pregnancy that I am so thankful for. So although I will never win an Oscar, and I will never be tardy that many days, here goes...

I'd like to thank...
the people at Panera bread who give me a big cup for water instead of making me refill the 4oz cup at the drink area, whoever figured out how to remove caffeine from coffee and Coca-Cola, my friend Surajit for handling all of the chemicals in the lab for me, my husband for getting out of bed at 3:00 in the morning to get me water, my awesome friends Taryn and Leigh Ann who gave me maternity clothes to wear, my friend Brian who had a baby in April and keeps bringing me diapers that his son has grown out of, all of the amazing friends who have filled Ethan's closet and bedroom with so many wonderful things, the amazing Florie Ann who has prayed for Ethan every day since we let her know we were pregnant, my friends and family for giving me incredible showers, the random people who say, "Really, you're 9 months pregnant?" instead of "Are you sure you're not having multiples?!", the friendly people at Publix who always carry my bags out to my car, my husband for telling me, a very swollen me, that I am beautiful in a culture of "pregorexia", and most of all my God, for giving me Ethan and who is knitting my son together in my womb even as I am writing this. I'm also so thankful to Him for making this summer not so hot. The list could go on and on...but I think I'm starting to hear the orchestra beginning to play...

Seriously, thank you!

He's almost here!

One month to go, folks! I am so excited! I had a check-up today and Ethan's heartbeat sounded fabulous! On the right is the most recent pregnancy picture.

I know that I need to be cherishing every moment that I have before all of the excitement begins, but I can't help but cross the days off the calendar. This is truly an incredible time in life! I will say, that the other day as I was walking through the mall with a friend and an iced mocha (with whipped cream - I need calcium, right?!), I enjoyed every moment of looking at shoes, flipping through racks of fabulous clothing, and not really having any other responsibilities at the time. I know that in just a little while I will be carrying a diaper bag, pushing a stroller, and looking at shoes and clothing in another department of Macy's. Although this will bring just as big of a smile to my face, for a girl who is always looking forward to the next moment, it was nice for a minute to just live in the one I was in.

I actually did it!

I have been wanting to create a blog for a while! And I finally did it. I couldn't decide on the name. Well, I chose one - and although it may be a little cheesy, hopefully it will be easy to remember!