Josh and Shanna's Visit

Last weekend Josh and his girlfriend Shanna came to Seattle for a visit. They also got to meet Oliver for the first time. We had a great time getting to know Shanna and from the look of this picture, Josh enjoyed getting to know little Oliver : ) We went to the Alki Bakery and showed Shanna beautiful west seattle. It was a glorious sunny day - just like it always is in Seattle in January....

We hadn't seen Josh since he went to China for the summer Olympics and he had some great presents for us - Josh I think the hat is a little too big for him!

We hope they come back to see us again soon. Oliver will be working on his nickname for "uncle" Josh. What a good looking couple!

Oliver's 1 Month Birthday

January 23rd was Oliver's one month birthday. While this may not be a big deal to everyone, my husband likes to celebrate things like this. So this posting is partly about Oliver's 1-month birthday, but mostly about how wonderful my husband is...

The first (among many) sweet things he did this week was to surprise me with a dozen roses and my favorite chocolates for no reason.

Then he came home on Friday after work with a cake from our favorite bakery (Bakery Nouveau - yes Fernanda a whole cake!). And a little toy football (Bronco's colors no less).

Oliver even decided to dress up in his Bronco's onesie for the occasion. He seemed to like the football, as his little fingers could grab it really easily...He even woke up for a few minutes!

Papa was very proud of the little guy and even tolerated quite a few pictures before getting to eat the cake....



Awww...he is the best father in the world.


Grandma and Grandpa McDonell came the next day. They had already met Oliver once in the hospital, but they didn't get to stay long. Grandma sure enjoyed holding him...even though I think he is a little heavier than a teacup....(grandma had surgery on her arm recently).

They brought some baby pictures of Mike and it turns out he looked just like Oliver when he was his age! We had thought he just looked like me, so Mike was very happy. I will scan in some of them so you can be the judge.

The three of us are getting used to this new life and while there have been some difficult days (and nights!), it is definitely worth it!

Happy Birthday Oliver!!!

PS - I keep adding pictures to the picassa webpage so check back there too:

http://picasaweb.google.com/naomi.chaytor/20090126OliverSecondMonth?feat=directlink

A day in the life...

It is an understatement to say that my life has changed since Oliver was born! It is amazing and challenging at the same time. Here is a taste of a typical 24 hours with Oliver:

Midnight: Oliver wakes me up with his grunting and chirping, which usually means he is both hungry and needs his diaper changed. I get up, undress him and get to work changing his diaper. Despite wanting it to be changed he sure protests! As soon I get the diaper off and am cleaning him up, he takes this opportunity to urinate all over him self and my arm...after cleaning him up again and putting on the new diaper, he is now screaming with hunger. After frantically eating for a few minutes, he falls asleep. He's still hungry, but I will only know this if I try to put him back to bed. So I burp him to wake him up and he eats some more. Then its back to bed. We recently figured out that he makes a lot of noise even when he is sleeping or almost asleep, so we have to ignore the grunts and chirps he makes till he falls back asleep. Finally, everyone is asleep at 12:30AM.

2:30AM: Repeat.

4:30AM: Repeat.

6:30AM: Repeat.


7:00AM: Mike gets up to go to work and Oliver and I try to sleep in until 9 if I'm lucky.

8:30AM: Diaper changed and he's fed, but now he is wide awake and making all sorts of noise. I put him in the swing (great invention!) while I quickly make breakfast and eat. He won't stop chirping until I pick him up and play with him. He is starting to track toys with his eyes and has more control over his hands. He can even lift his head from side to side when he is on his tummy. He smiles all the time when he is sleeping and we think he smiles at us when he is awake but we aren't really sure. Check out these videos I took today:









9:30AM: all that playing must have taken a lot out of him, because he is hungry again! This time I feed him and he is out like a light. I gets chance to check my e-mail and update this website. I also have time to get to work finishing the last two reports I need to write for work....


11:30AM: emergency diaper change! He is getting much more vocal when he is uncomfortable...fed him again and took a quick shower....Started his laundry (this kid goes through laundry like crazy!)...ate lunch while he swings...answered some e-mails.


1:00PM: still sleeping...I watch Days of Our Lives and read a manuscript for a student before he wakes up again.

2:30PM he wakes up and I change his diaper and feed him and bundle him up to go for a walk in the park - it is actually sunny outside.


3:30PM: he's still asleep from the walk. That sling really puts him out like a light! I have a few minutes to check e-mail and try to get the videos to download correctly to my computer and upload to this site...


4:00PM: Finally get around to working on my report...get about halfway done before Mike comes home from work. He surprised me with chocolates and roses!! He is the greatest husband ever. He wisks Oliver away to change his diaper and then I feed him before making dinner.

5:45PM: go to yoga class at the gym while Mike watches Oliver. I have started exercising again this week after 4 weeks off. It feels good to get back into the routine of going to classes.


6:45PM: get home from the gym and finish making dinner. Feed Oliver after eating. Mike goes for his run.


8:15PM: Mike takes over so I can go to bed early.


10:30PM: Mike feeds Oliver a bottle so I can get a few hours of uninterupted sleep.


2:30AM: Oliver sleeps for 4 hours! Yay! He eats and goes right back to sleep until 6AM. Things are looking better in the sleep department, but who knows what tomorrow will bring ; )

Welcome to Our Blog

The last few weeks have been life changing for us and we wanted to share it with our family and friends. I will try to post new pictures and videos often so you can all see how Oliver is growing and changing. We have already had quite a few visitors and have more planned in the next few weeks.

Just in case anyone out there doesn't know the story of Oliver's birth, here it is. I was due on January 25th, 2009 with out first baby and everything was going very smoothly - I was feeling good and not having too many pregnancy issues. That is, everything was going smoothly until December 17th when I went to the doctor and found out my blood pressure was high. I was also measuring too big for the dates, so I was sent for an ultrasound a few days later. I was also put on bed rest to see if that helped lower my blood pressure. We had the ultrasound done on December 19th and found out that our baby was huge! He was already over 8 pounds at 35 weeks. He was supposed to be about 5 pounds. So needless to say my blood pressure stayed high and I was told I would have to stay on bed rest until he was born. And at the rate he was going that would likely be via C-section. I was pretty stressed out by this news - particularly the extended bed rest, as I am not someone who does well sitting on the couch for too long. Luckily my Mom and two sisters came that weekend to celebrate Christmas early. My mom and Mike picked up some of the baby gear that we still needed that weekend too. I was pretty bummed that I wouldn't be able to help pick things out, as I was stuck on the couch. My sweet husband had suggested that I get a pregnancy massage after my family left, which was very relaxing! I was starting to get used to the idea of being on bedrest and trying to make the most of it - I even had a list of all the things I could do with the extra time. However, later that night at 12:45AM my water broke! Mike was pretty surprised to say the least...We hadn't packed a bag yet so we frantically grabbed some things and headed to the hospital. The doctor said to come in right away because it had been snowing for a few days and many of the roads were closed in west seattle.


We made it to the hospital and went to triage to get admitted. They hooked me up to a contraction monitor and a fetal monitor.


















We were very excited to be finally meeting our little baby, but also nervous because it was 5 weeks too soon! The new father to be did an awesome job being calm and supportive during the 25 hours of labor that ensued. He even found a few minutes to get in his daily 1 mile run right after we got to the hospital!




















Oliver Miles McDonell finally made his appearance at 1:26 AM on 12/23/08. They had a little difficulty getting him out seeing as how he weighed in at a whopping 8 pounds 11 ounces!


Needless to say, I was very happy to finally see my sweet baby boy and to be done with labor!

Because he was early and so big, he had some difficulty keeping his blood sugar up after birth and had to go to the NICU for a few hours. He was then transferred to the Infant Special Care Unit to make sure he was eating enough and could regulate his blood sugar on his own. We were able to stay there with him in our room and take care of him.

They also found out that he had jaundace and he had to have light therapy before going home.








We spent Christmas in the hospital and Mike's family all came in one by one to see him and exchange presents. It was not the typical Christmas but he was the best present we could have hoped for!

We finally got to take our little bundle home on December 27th - he loves riding in the car! Luckily we had installed the car seat early...

His papa was very happy to finally have him home with us.

Since we took him home, he has been doing really well and got a clean bill of health from his pediatrician. He had gained his birth weight (and then some) back by the 2 week appointment and was doing everything he should be. Mike took 2 weeks off to be home with us and get to know his son. He has been amazing! Despite all his claims that he would not do diapers, he is now a diaper changing pro. The two of them really enjoy each other.















I have 3 months off from work and have so far been spending it sleeping whenever I can get it! He is up every 2 hours (or less!) at night and I am someone who needs sleep...We are slowly getting into a routine and getting to know each other. Oliver loves to go for walks in the sling - he goes right to sleep.



To see more photos of the little guy click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/naomi.chaytor/OliverFirstMonth?feat=directlink

Stay tuned for more updates!