Time Does Fly!

Hello all! Again, apologies for how long it takes me to update this blog. It's been busy at the Zwickl house! I'm still learning time management - which, let me tell you, is difficult, since Connor seems to think that all of the time is his. :) I imagine one day this will all be easier, however, I'm not sure that it's going to be any time soon. Right now, we just take one day at a time!

To start off with, we've missed a couple holidays. So let's back up and go through everything that's happened in the last couple months. :)

October
Connor's first Halloween was a nice, slow introduction to what I'm sure will become one of his favorite holidays. Connor and I went to lunch with Andrew, so we got to use the stroller for one of the first times (and let me tell you, we love the stroller! It's such a smooth ride!). Andrew was dressed as a Zombie, but I didn't dress up this year. We spent the evening before Halloween looking for a costume for our little guy, though! And let me tell you - there's very little in the costume department for three week old babies. :) But we did manage to find one costume that we figured worked better than anything else (okay, when you see the picture, you can tell that it was still way too big for him!).

Connor, in his primary outfit for the day!

On a walk with Daddy and Mommy

Andrew, the Zombie

Nana & Connor the policeman!

The night of Halloween, Andrew, Connor and I went over with Shannon, Elizabeth, Jim & Marie to Brittany and Peter's to watch them give out candy. We had fun eating pizza and watching the little kids in costume ("I'm a pterodactyl!" and "I got the white web in my white hair!" were the two best comments from some of our kids, and nearly caused Shannon and Elizabeth to wet their pants) . I'm sure next Halloween will be very different! (And hopefully, it will be easier to find Connor a costume!).

November
Andrew and I had our first "date" since Connor's birth - and it was the first time that I'd been away from Connor. The original plan was to go to dinner and a movie, but it was slightly adjusted. My cousin Jenn from NJ was out, and she and Shannon watched Connor while Andrew and I went to see Role Models (which was hilarious, by the way!). While they were watching him, they got one of our favorite pictures.

Baby Connor

Andrew and I ended up coming straight home after the movie, picking up Connor, Shannon and Jenn, and then going to dinner. We missed him too much!

Jenn, Heather, Shannon, Connor, & Maria

Connor had a milestone on his one month birthday - he rolled over from his tummy to his back for the first time - and the second. :) Dad, Shannon and I put him down and were playing with him on the carpet, and he started to make the motions like he was thinking about turning over. So we encouraged him, and to our surprise (and his!), he rolled over.

One Month Old Connor James

On the way to rolling over

Getting frustrated

Just after the rolling!

November also ushered in my first large stretch of time from Connor - New Kids on the Block came to town on the 14th. Because there was no way we were going to miss it, Shannon, Maria, Brittany, Elizabeth and I all had to see those Boston boys. We went to dinner and then enjoyed the show. It was an awesome concert - I really had fun, and only missed Connor a little bit... Okay - about half way through the show I was ready to go home, just because I was ready to go to sleep! I did my share of being the 30-ish mom standing and screaming, but the clock seriously hit like 9:30 and I started leaning in the seat... and then sitting... but the concert was still pretty great. The only "thing" missing was Venessa, Jenn and Whitney - but we thought of them and made a pretty sign (but, of course, I don't have any of those pictures! You'll have to go to Brittany's page for some).

Thanksgiving gave us two big meals, as we had our annual dual-Thanksgiving. This year, however, will be the last time we do that, since Andrew's parents are officially retired (at least his Dad is), and they've moved to Arizona. We had "first dinner" in Louisville about noon, watched some football, and then headed back down to Parker for "second dinner" (sometimes I feel like we're hobbits!).

Our First Thanksgiving

December
Connor definitely started smiling - and not the fleeting ones while he was sleeping. I tried several times to get those sleepy smiles, but to no avail. It's so nice to get those little "I know you!" smiles first thing in the morning when he wakes up. And he's a lot more "awake" now - we call him alert baby. Andrew is so good at getting those smiles from Connor, our happy baby. He's even laughing a little here and there, which is too cute!

My attempt to get the sleepy smile... I failed.

Andrew's company had a children's Christmas party on December 2nd, so we took Connor for his first trip to Santa, which I'm happy to say, he handled as a pro. There were no tears from this little guy. To him, it was just another person holding him. :) He's used to being passed around, and as long as he's held, he doesn't care.

Daddy & Connor at the party

Maria had her 28th birthday on December 8th, and we had a nice dinner at my parents (yum - spaghetti!) and celebrated the fact that Maria's getting old. :)

For Connor's two-month birthday, he managed to roll over, again! Two more times, and again, he surprised himself. :)

Two Month Old Connor

Sucking on his fist during tummy time - he loves it!

That next weekend was the "adult" Christmas party, and Connor had his first overnight trip to Nana and Jiaji's, since Andrew and I were staying the night. It was at the Sheraton downtown, and a really nice night. Andrew was busy most of the night, doing his presidential duties, and of course, he's not 100% happy with the way the whole evening turned out, but I think he did well. We also won as a door prize a free night at the hotel, so we're looking forward to another adult night. :) And in the morning, we were definitely ready to go get our little guy, since we missed him! The following Tuesday, we took him along to my Christmas party at Fitness Together, and he was a big hit - every one wanted to play with and hold him. And he was a good baby, and slept in his car seat in some of the weirdest positions.

He also had his first attempt at sleeping through the night on the 13th. It surprised me when I didn't wake up until a little after 6am. It was nice, but he hasn't done it again, since! Close, but not quite. :)

Venessa had her baby on December 23rd, a little boy named Isadore Asher Leffler (Izzy), so Connor will have yet another baby to play and grow up with. His little circle of friends is getting so big!! We haven't got the chance yet to meet the new little Leffler, but hopefully soon!

We had Christmas at my parents (Andrew, Connor, and I slept in my old bedroom), and watched the traditional Muppets Christmas Carol so we could say there was only one more sleep 'til Christmas... day. Christmas morning was fun - although Connor didn't really care about the presents. I held him on my lap and tried to have him "help" open his, but after about the third present, he was done. I'm sure next year will be more fun for him!

Connor in one of his giant Christmas bibs

Connor with all the presents

Shannon's birthday managed to fall on the same day that the Av's were playing the Red Wings, so we got tickets to the game. Shannon, her friends Wendy and Carl, Elizabeth, Mom and Dad, Maria and Jeremy, and Andrew and I all sat in the lower level - and came within inches of getting a puck that went over the glass. Dad did also "win" a t-shirt that came down in a parachute (Shannon got the t-shirt, but Dad is excited about the parachute). Connor stayed with Auntie Brittany and Uncle Peter, since we figured he was still a little too young for his first hockey game.

On the 29th, Andrew and I took Connor on his first plane trip, and we went down to Arizona to visit Andrew's parents, and the other family he has that lives down there. We used the Baby Bjorn in the airport, and it was so much nicer than lugging a car seat or pushing a stroller. And Connor does very well in the carrier - he slept almost the whole time. Andrew did a good job "rocking" him to sleep. :)

Andrew and Connor - in the airport

Sleeping on Daddy

Posing

Connor did well for his first flight - we feed him during take off, and then he slept for most of the flight and the landing. Connor was pretty much held the entire time down there, and loved sleeping on Grandpa Ron and Grandma Judy.

Connor and Grandma

Connor and Grandpa

Arizona was having beautiful December weather while we were there - it was in the 70's pretty much the whole time we were there - and only while we were there! You could tell we were the tourists, since we wore shorts. :) And went swimming on New Year's day. We also managed to finally get the picture of the elusive smile.

The Happy Baby Connor

Andrew and I did catch a cold in Arizona - Andrew got the cough, I got the sneezes. And little Connor got a little of both, but he only a tiny fever one night, and then nothing, so he did fine. Mommy's immune system must be doing him a good job. We came home on the 2nd, and the flight, however, did not go as smoothly (and I never want to have to change him in those tiny bathrooms again! Germ-a-phobe mom had some issues with it!).

January
Not too much has happened so far. Andrew is currently on his way to Vegas for the weekend, and Shannon is hanging out with Connor and me, since I think I'd go crazy without some adult conversation while he's gone. :) Next weekend, we will be having Connor's christening, but that's pretty much the extent of our January plans.

Big news for us, I guess, is that I am not going back to Fitness Together. It definitely wasn't the plan - I was hoping to start back part time next week, but it looks like things are moving slowly in the franchise world, and they apparently cannot justify adding "back" my position (they'll call me if something changes, but I don't see it happening soon). So now I'm spending as much time as I can looking for a job. The part that's a little frustrating was that I was really certain I was going back, and Andrew and I had interviewed a woman who does day care from her home. So, hopefully some things will work out and I'll have a new job soon.

The good part is that I get to still spend each day with Connor, and enjoy his smiles (I wasn't really looking forward to being away from him all day!). I also don't have to worry yet about how I'm going to continue to breast feed him - something that we've been doing pretty well the whole time (well, aside from those first two weeks, that just sucked!). The next challenge that we've got to work on is getting Connor to go to sleep in his crib - so far, he sleeps with us (and it's partly my own selfish desire to be able to nurse him while we're both half asleep), but poor Andrew gets a little sliver of the bed, and I'm sure he'd like a little more space. :)

Okay - I guess that's it for now. :) Talk to you all soon!

Connor!

Connor James Zwickl

7: 48 am, October 10, 2008

7 lbs 15 oz, 19 3/4"

Sorry it's taken so long to get some pictures up, but it's hard being a new mom! :) So let me catch you up...

We checked in to the hospital on Thursday, the 9th, at 10:30 pm. The nurse started the induction process, and Andrew and I were settled down to sleep a little after midnight. As we were warned, we didn't get much sleep (and the chair that "turns into" a bed that Andrew slept on was pretty uncomfortable for him!). About 6:30 am, the nurse came in to tell us that we were going to have to do a C-section, since our baby didn't like any of my contractions, and his heart rate would go down after each one. Since they were early contractions, and not too strong yet, they didn't think that he'd do well with labor. So, Dr. Cheng was on her way in. We frantically started the phone tree off, and let people know that it was go time. I was really unprepared for the C-section, and a little scared, but it all went really smoothly. Because of the short notice, I didn't get to see anyone before I went into the operating room. Long story short, Connor was born at 7:48 am, and it was so reassuring to hear his little lungs let out that first wail! And our beautiful baby boy is the spitting image of Andrew. :) Andrew was with me for the first part, but then followed Connor when he left to go to the nursery. I ended up falling asleep shortly after I got to hold Connor, so I kinda lost touch on the timing. I do remember waking up as they were done sewing me up, and I asked them to make sure they didn't have any extra parts leftover!

Doctor Andrew - ready to go into surgery!

Our First Family Photo

Daddy and Auntie Brittany in the nursery

Connor - with his arms up, the way he likes it!

Auntie Elizabeth, Nana, and Auntie Maria

Apparently, it was quite a while before I came out of the recovery room, but as I mentioned earlier, I had really no concept of time. It all happened quite quickly on my end, but I guess we can blame the drugs! :) Mom did "sneak" into the recovery room to make sure I was okay. Andrew hadn't told anyone Connor's name - and we didn't really have a chance to confirm with each other that we were going with Connor James until we were in the recovery room, anyway (we were still kicking around other middle names). But eventually, we were in our own room, and Connor was brought back, and the free for all to hold him began!! We had a lot of visitors over the days we were there!

Mommy and Connor

Connor, Mommy and Daddy

The Paparazzi

Connor and Jiaji Peter (Polish for "Grandfather")

Connor and Nana

Connor and Grandpa Ron

Auntie Maria and Connor

Auntie Shannon and Connor

Mommy, Ella, Connor, and Auntie Brittany

Mommy, Auntie Brittany, and Connor

Connor and Geri

Auntie Brittany and Ella - who needs to see everything that's going on!

Auntie Shannon, Mommy, Connor, and Auntie Maria

Uncle Scott, Daddy, and Connor

Andrew stayed at the hospital pretty much the whole time, although he did make it to the Bronco's game on Sunday ('cause I'm the best wife in the world! Although it would have been nicer had they actually won!), and he went to class on Monday. But he did manage to "relax" on the dad bed. :)

Daddy and Connor on the chair bed

We ended up spending five days at the hospital, much longer than we expected, especially since we hadn't planned on the C-section. But we left with a healthy baby, so there's not much else we could ask for! :) We did try to leave on Monday, since they'd given me the okay, and took out the staples, but we had a bit of a set back when they came in and said Connor wasn't able to leave. His weight had gotten down to 7 lbs 2 oz. Most babies lose weight after they're born, but because Connor had lost more than 10% of his body weight, he wasn't going to be able to leave. Most of the problem was because I was nursing, and my milk hadn't come in yet. So, after many tears (mine!), we stayed another day and supplemented with some formula. We were able to get Connor's weight up to 7 lbs 4.5 oz on Tuesday, so we were all able to go home! Both Andrew and I were excited to get back to our house and sleep in our own bed!

Going Home!

On the way to the car

The Thursday after we got home, Whitney, Lorelei, Brittany, and Ella all came over, and we got to catch up, since Whitney was in town for a couple of days. She also brought dinner, which was awesome - since making dinner wasn't a top concern for Andrew and me!

Heather and Connor, Brittany and Ella, and Whitney and Lorelei

We've taken a couple more pictures of Connor over the last couple days. And I'm sure we'll have more, especially since there are so many "big" days coming up!! :) The holiday's are my favorite time of year! :)

Connor's Tummy Time

Connor in his swing - which he loves!

We getting used to the different little noises he makes, and we're completely smitten with our baby. We've got about a half a dozen different little nicknames we call him. He's just so sweet! And we can't wait to see what he does each day. He's over 8 lbs now, so he's growing and getting bigger. Each time we go to the doctor's for his check ups, they're surprised at how strong he is (it must be because we watched Ahr-nold so many times while I was pregnant with him!).

That's it for now... I'll try to keep the updates on baby Connor frequent for you all! :) Have a Happy Halloween!!

Introducing Connor James Zwickl

At last, we have a baby boy! :) We'd like to announce our new arrival, Connor James Zwickl. Connor was born on Friday, October 10th, at 7:48 am. He was 7 lbs, 15 oz, and 19 3/4".

Mom, Dad, and baby all doing fine, and hope to be home from the hospital tomorrow. We should be able to get pictures up soon!! We'll also get all of those details out for you, as well!

Due Date

Well, it's October 6th, and there's no baby on the horizon! So we're still waiting for him to make his appearance. We had our doctor's appointment today, and I am still at about the same almost one centimeter. But everything is going well - the baby's heartbeat was 140 today, and he's been unusually active. We have scheduled the baby to be induced on Friday, October 10th. The doctor says that we could wait longer, but we really don't need to, since it seems that the best estimates are that we've got an 8 1/2 lbs baby in there! Whew! But we're managing to stay busy, of course!

Andrew's Birthday!
Andrew celebrated his 28th birthday over the weekend, which was pretty exciting. Friday, we had a nice dinner with Ron, Judy, Adam, Jamie and Ellen at Mt. Vernon. We had some yummy crab and prime rib (well, I didn't have the Prime Rib, but everyone else did!). We also celebrated Ron's birthday, since it's on Wednesday (early October seems to be a popular time for these Zwickl babies!).

On Saturday, we went to Casa Bonita with a group of over 20 people, including several newbies! Andrew was hoping that the "delicious" Mexican food and the atmosphere would help the baby to come join us. It almost worked, because I did have a couple serious contractions on the way home, but there were only four, at four-minutes apart, and then they stopped (at the time, I was happy because they hurt!!). Before we left, we did get a cute picture of Andrew and I in front of the fountain (and yes, he's actually smiling!!), but my camera cord doesn't fit my camera, so I can't upload it until I go to my parents again, since my mom's cord works.

Okay - here are the pictures at the fountain. :)





On Sunday, Andrew's actual birthday, he did exactly what he wanted - and watched football all day. :) The Bronco's won, but he didn't do so well in his football pools. We ended the weekend with dinner at Outback with my parents, Maria, Jeremy, and Shannon. Andrew did have some more homework to do, but he managed to get it mostly done before we went to bed.

Overall, we had a nice birthday weekend - lots of relaxing for the chaos that we know will come with the baby!!

Thursday Plans
My last day at work will be Wednesday (I can't wait!!), so I'm going to be able to spend Thursday at home, getting anything last minute ready that we need to, and resting (I'm really looking forward to sleeping in!). Andrew will go to work, and then we've got a softball game at 7:50, and then afterwards, we'll "check in" to the hospital at 10pm - and I've been told that we probably won't be able to sleep much. We'll see how that goes! So hopefully, some time Friday morning or early afternoon (at the latest!), we'll have our brand new baby. :)

Five Days?!

So it's getting down to crunch time. We're getting really close to having the baby - or at least I hope!

I'm still at work - and planning to continue to do so right up until the baby is born (hopefully, I'll avoid going into labor there, even though the girls are hoping to use it as an opportunity to not work!). I'm trying to drink water constantly and keep my feet up as much as possible, too, since my ankles and feet have suddenly started to swell (which is new for me!). My sneakers are kind of tight, so I'm happy that we're still having good weather so that I can wear my sandals and flip flops! :)

I haven't had a chance to get pictures of the baby shower - or other recent events - uploaded on the computer, so I'll add that to the list of things I'd like to get done this weekend. Since the weekend seems pretty packed, chances are supposedly good that we'll have this baby soon! Everyone keeps telling us to make plans, since that's when he'll make his appearance.

I am having some contractions - or at least I think they're contractions. Basically, just super sharp pains, but they're one or two or three, and not really something worth timing. The Braxton Hicks contractions are weird, and I can feel that the baby isn't moving as much as he did before - though he still definitely manages to find space to push out at mommy and kick. Two weeks ago, when we were at the doctor's office for a normal check up, he had the hiccups, and the doctor's assistant had to just give up on trying to get an accurate heartbeat since he kept moving. It was funny. :) After two weeks solid of being not dilated at all, we got the "good" news on Monday that I was almost one centimeter dilated.

We also did tentatively plan to induce if the baby doesn't come soon - so, it looks like if he doesn't pick his own day, we'll go with 10/10, which my doctor says is a good birthday. :) So it's a little weird to think that in only a few more days, Andrew and I will be parents. I'm anxious to meet the little guy and see what he looks like. We've got this informal contest about who's going to have the biggest baby - between Ella (who was 7 lbs 2 oz), our baby, and Venessa's baby (who's due mid-December). Dr. Cheng guessed that the baby was already 7 lbs two weeks ago, so Andrew's pretty confident we've got this one in the bag (there goes my hope for a nice little baby!).

Catching Up

Well, I can barely believe that summer is almost over. It's gone by super fast. And I've been really bad about updating the blog (I blame it on the fact that I can't get Internet on my computer, and Andrew is a big hog of the lap top!). So, here's a quick run down of what's happened the last two months...

The Baby's Room
We've started working on putting the room together. This pretty much involved painting over the ugly olive green color in the bedroom with a much nicer blue. Andrew and his dad painted the room, and it looks so much brighter and larger than it did before.

Room Prepping

The Finished Project

After we got the room painted, we started doing the "fun" stuff - which was getting the furniture for the baby's room. While it's still not complete, we've got the crib, dresser, and changing table all set up and in the room. Andrew and I put the changing table and crib together, which was kind of fun. We also got the bedding for the crib, so it makes it so that the baby is the biggest thing missing. :) There's still some more stuff that I want to get done in there, but here are some pictures of what the baby's room looks like now, with furniture.

I guess the next thing we're missing is the baby, but we're only five weeks away!

Other news on the baby front is that he is now officially in the "ready" position. He made us a little nervous the last few weeks, since he hadn't "flipped," but at our doctor's appointment on Friday, the sonogram finally showed that he had his head down. So now we're back to waiting for the baby to pick his birthday, rather than us scheduling it (which I was not a big fan of)! Everything went well - we got to see his heart beat again (at a perfect 132 rate - he's been pretty consistent!), and we got another set of sonogram pictures. The funny thing is that this time, the sonogram totally doesn't make sense to me. Andrew said he could see the baby's head and arm, but I was at a loss, and told our doctor's assistant that I couldn't see any definition, and that it was way easier earlier in the pregnancy. She said it was probably because now he's so big it's hard to see all of him in the screen - totally makes sense. So I guess I'll have to see him when he's born!

We also have no name for the baby yet - hence all the references to the "baby," which is pretty much what we call him all the time. Andrew and I are still going through our mental list of names - trying to figure our what we each like, and what actually sounds good with Zwickl - which is actually a bit difficult. But we'll have a name for the baby before we leave the hospital! :)

Our baby is also quite the partier - I swear he's practicing his dance moves each night. It's actually getting kind of weird to watch my belly move, instead of just feeling the movements. Just more proof that he's getting bigger! He's definitely more active in the evening, when I'm home from work - normally when I'm sitting on the couch or lying in bed. I do know that I'd prefer it if he'd lay of my ribs - at least a little bit! Pretty soon, though, he'll have a lot more room to practice those moves!!

Visit from the Gomes

We did get to see Jenn and Francis, Maddie and Taylor this summer, which was really nice. They Gomes family even made a trip to see our softball team play (which, incidentally, took second in our league). We also spent some time at Amazing Jakes, and it looked like everyone had fun.

My mom holding Ella, who's wearing Andrew's hat...

Wings Over the Rockies

Mom, Dad, Shannon, Andrew and I all went to the Wings Over the Rockies last month. Andrew's company occasionally has functions that we can get cheaper tickets to - this time, it was the airplane museum... so of course, we had to go! It was pretty neat - except for the part where I forgot that I was pregnant and tried climbing into the cockpit of some of the planes. Guess I really am my father's daughter!!

Andrew's 14er

Another activity some people from Andrew's work arrange is the annual 14er - we weren't able to participate last year, because it was around the time we were getting married. This year, I was also sadly unable to go - but Andrew, Brittany and Peter all went and climber Mt. Sherman. Andrew actually remembered to take some pictures, so we'll share those. I spent the day with an adorable little three-month old baby... Ella, of course! Shannon came over to make sure that I didn't get to tired, so the three of us had our own nice day!

Andrew, of course, didn't take any pictures of himself, so we'll have to see if Brittany and Peter have some. :) Otherwise, it'll be next year 'til we get some more 14er pictures. :)

Odds & Ends

Other exciting news is that we took second on our softball league. I meant to take some pictures of the team, but we didn't get a chance before everyone left. But we finished the season having only lost three games, which was pretty good. Hopefully, fall league will end with us at number one!

That's it for now... I will definitley try to get some more updates soon... my baby shower, my "bump", the baby's room... it'll just take some more time. :)