Baby's first bath!

Recently, and to our utmost joy, Ashlyn's ambilical cord fell off. Since then it has made changing diapers and clothes so much easier. Grandma came over this afternoon ( mommy got to sleep in till almost 12 o'clock!) to help give Ashlyn a bath while Jared was at school. At first the baby didn't like being wet and and naked, but after a few minutes she really started to enjoy it.

Having help with the baby has been so nice. Ashlyn has a great aunt and two uncles that live close and are always eager to help watch her. Her aunt Sammy can't hardly stand being around the baby without having to hold her.

The faces of Ashlyn

Well today was Jared's first whole day back to school so Ashlyn got to spend all day with mommy! She got to have a bath and get all dressed up to go see the nurse for 15 minutes:) The nurse weighed her at the appointment and told me that she has already gained an ounce since she was born! I told her she was going to be a sumo someday, she didn't really laugh:) Maybe that's why Ashlyn farted a stinky one on her. She was really surprised and said that she's doing great though.


My mom helped me clean the house a little today so that was really good, it's amazing how tired you get! I feel like all I do is eat, feed baby, sleep, feed baby, eat, feed baby, sleep..........haha, I guess that is all I do:)


Jared got home from his classes and said that he fell asleep in most of them, and then he took a nap. He's probably getting less sleep than I am. He gets to change her diaper sometimes during the middle of the night and he has a lot better stories than me, she poops and pees and throws up all over him-haha.

First time papa Brian held baby Ashlyn

This was our first trip with Ashly in the car. Grandma and Grampa Brian had us over for dinner

We've been fortunate to have Amanda's mom close by to help us out with the little things. This is Karen, a first time grandma who's enjoying her job spoiling her grandbaby.

Sunday

Amanda likes to keep a clean house and well, that was probably the last thing on her mind while she was in labor. So I thought I'd take a break from being in the hospital and come home and clean up a little( it really wasn't that bad...I just needed a break)

Day before the family comes home

WE will rock the hiccups!

Andrew called and said that he'd like to see a few more pictures of the baby. So if there's not a whole lot of gab on here sorry...it's all about the baby

This morning Amanda got done feeing Ashly around 4:30. Being the anxious father that I am, I couldn't help but wake up with her and help put the baby down when it was time to go back to sleep. Well, I got a bit restless and the baby looked a bit tired of sleeping so we hung out for a little while. After one of her deadly farts, I thought I'd better check to see if she needed a diaper changing. My detective skills were right on - well, it was only a wet diaper, but she needed new one. After taking old one off i noticed that the last diaper had been on a little too tight and was irritating her skin.

I thought of how much I like to be naked and thought she might enjoy the fresh air on her hiny. I think this excited her though because she started to poop. Thankfully when she poops it comes out real slow ( I experienced a similar thing yesterday while changing her) and I had plenty of time to react. So i waited patiently, holding her feet in the air until she was done. i then threw the diaper in the trash, thinking it would be awful to get crap on the changing table. When I looked back, Ashlyn was in the middle of peeing ...with nothing but a few wipes underneath her. Luckily all the clothes she was wearing soaked up the urine.

After I got her cleaned up, which was quite the ordeal, I thought I'd rock her to sleep. Well, either she didn't like the shirt I was wearing or though that rocking was a bad idea - needless to say she puked all over me. It was great.

What a day!

Wednesday June fourths was a lot like any other day here in Rexburg Idaho - the wind was blowing and it looked as though it would snow. I went to school and studied something that I can't recall; and Amanda tried to do all she could to unpregnate herself. Amanda and her cousin Heidi first went for a bike ride. Later they went and rode the carosel (suprisingly enought, those horse went fast enought to make Amanda want to throw up!) down the street from our house. I wrapped things up by taking her for a bumpy ride in the truck.
A little after one o'clock in the morning Amanda began to feel real noscious and get really cold. An hour went by and she had experience nearly six or seven contractions. After 2:00 a.m. she was feeling them every 3-5 minutes.
We drove to the hospital, taking justthe clothes we were wearing. Amanda was afraid that the nurses would think she wasn't in that bad of labor and send us home. To our suprise (and Amandas relief) we found she was dialated to nearly a 5! After another hour or two of being asked several questions and being hooked up to a couple of monitors we were admited to a private labor room.
With contractions coming every 3 or so minutes, we just hung out in the room - waiting. Amanda did quite well, lasting to about 6:30 before she go her epideral. This drug made things a lot nicer, giving Amandasome time to sleep and gather some energy before going into active labor. When neither one of us could sleep we watched Liar Liar (curtious of the local DI) and played cards.
Just before noon the nurse informed us that Amanda was dialated to a 10 and had 100% effacement and that she could begin to push! Karen (my wife's mom) and i stood beside Amanda, supporting her legs while she pushed. I'll avoid going into detail about anything else. The whole thing was over by 12:31 p.m. and included a delay of 10 or so minutes, the doctor was busy with another patient.

Over the next two and a half days we stayed at the hospital so Amanda and the baby could get their rest. It took us till Friday night to decide on the name and spelling of our little girl. We're excited to show off Ashlyn Marie to y'all, she's definately a cute little girl.