Author Archives: Ashley - Page 2

Two Months!

Posted by on October 16, 2012 No comments

This week Theo turned 2 months old! He has started to really develop a personality and I can’t get over how much he changes each and every day. His smiles seem more “purposeful” now – and I’m afraid he already knows how powerful his grin is. We are in trouble…he is turning into the biggest flirt! He has also started to figure out that his hands are “his” – up until this point it seemed like he was surprised every time his hand found its way into his mouth or hit the rattle on his play mat. I’m also very happy that he has stopped pulling his own hair! We would hear a shriek and cry of pain – only to find Theo gripping onto his own hair for dear life.

Another great turn of events has been Theo’s sleep schedule. Something seems to have “clicked’ and Theo has extended his nighttime sleep so that he goes down at around 7:30pm and sleeps uninterrupted until between 5 and 6 am. At that point he takes a small feeding, and then sleeps soundly until we have to wake him at 7:30am. He has done this 3 out of the past 4 nights…so far so good. The goal is to get him to sleep soundly from 7:30pm to 7:30am …fingers crossed that this process continues to go smoothly!

In other news, our new dining room table arrives today! Very excited to have that set up – pictures to follow!

11 Days

Posted by on August 2, 2012 No comments

Hard to believe that this baby is due in 11 days! I have definitely been enjoying my maternity leave – though I wish I had more energy! I’m definitely starting to slow down a bit. My lower back has been hurting – which the Dr. attributes to the fact that the baby is facing the wrong way. At least Dubs is head down! I’m just hoping that the baby will turn itself around and face the right way before I go into labor – since I’m told that back labor is pretty painful.

Today we met with a car seat specialist to make sure that our car seats were installed properly. The guy said he had never seen someone install a seat base as well as Jeff had – so I know that Lil Dubs is in good hands 🙂 I, on the other hand, need a bit of training. Thankfully I don’t think I’ll have to mess with the bases much – and if I do, I know that Jeff will have it covered!

22 – Baby Shower

Posted by on July 22, 2012 No comments

Today was our second baby shower (if you count the wonderful surprise shower that our coworkers threw for us!) It was hosted by Pamela and Becky – two very close friends of my mom. The shower had a “tea party” theme and was located at a place called the Scarlet Tea Room (http://www.scarlettearoom.com/). We were treated to a 5-course brunch that included delicious scones, finger sandwiches, and delicious desserts. One of the highlights was my dad’s surprise visit – he came to play piano for the group and was a great hit! The other highlight was having Jeff there for the second half of the shower 🙂 Lil’ Dubs got some really great gifts – I’m sure he/she would have been as excited as we were. I’ll post some pictures tomorrow.

We also just got the great news that Nano will be coming to visit us in time for our “family” baby shower on August 5th!! We are so excited that she will be here for the party and if all goes well – the birth!

25

Posted by on July 19, 2012 No comments

Another big day for Dubs today! In a fortuitous turn of events, we both leased a new car and sold an old car all in the same day! I’ll start with the new lease – we have known for a while that we needed a bigger car. My Corolla and Jeff’s Audi just aren’t equipped for the myriad of accessories babies require. Granted it’s doable – but it’s certainly not as comfortable. A few weeks ago we went car shopping and settled between the Toyota Highlander and the Honda Pilot…either one would have been perfect. It turns out that a friend of ours is a professional “car leaser” (I didn’t know this type of job even existed!) but it has certainly worked in our favor. We reached out to him and immediately he responded with some  of the great deals available within our budget. 24 hours later, he delivered a beautiful new Honda Pilot right to our doorstep. It will definitely take me some time to get used to driving a mid-sized SUV – but I am really happy to have a few weeks of practice before the baby comes…the thought of driving a brand new baby in a brand new car is pretty scary to me!

While we were gearing up to get the new car, Jeff decided it was time to say goodbye to the Audi. This car has been very good to him for the past 13 years…but the time had come to part ways. He took the car to CarMax to see what they would offer him – and the amount was insultingly low. Jeff decided to test his luck on Craigs List – and within 15 minutes, he had 5 offers with the LOWEST being 3 times the amount that the CarMax folks had offered. He selected an offer and met up with the buyer tonight to seal the deal. I know it was hard to let that car go, but hopefully having the new car will ease that sting a bit 🙂

In other news, I can’t believe I have only one more week left at the office before my maternity leave officially begins! With the way things are going right now…this leave can’t come soon enough! It’s getting very difficult to focus on anything but this growing, kicking, hiccuping life inside of me 🙂

26

Posted by on July 18, 2012 No comments

Lil Dubs had a big day today! This morning we had our 36 week appointment with Dr. McCallister (our regular OB is on vacation for a few weeks). During the ultrasound, she started taking the typical measurements and we sensed that she seemed perplexed – our charts say that Lil Dubs is 36 weeks, and yet everything was measuring at 38 weeks. We explained that Dubs has been about 2 weeks larger than average since the beginning – given our respective heights – this seemed to make total sense to her. The baby hasn’t officially “dropped” yet – but Dubs is definitely starting to get into the right position. I am starting to feel a ton of pressure around my ribs, which is probably because his or her feet are jammed up there at the moment – the joys of the 9th month. I’ve also started to feel Braxton-Hicks contractions (or at least what I think are Braxton Hicks!) I’ve also started to feel a lot of pressure in my mid to lower back – especially when I sit for long periods of time. I would say the past 2 weeks are the first time during this pregnancy that I’ve actually felt uncomfortable (other than when I was sick, of course!) I figure if it took this long to get uncomfortable, that’s not too bed. The Dr. confirmed that my fluid levels are great – so we are still on track for an on-time delivery (so if you put down that this baby is coming super early on our pool – you might want to reconsider!) Dr. Serden gets back into town in just over a week, so we’ll have one more appointment with Dr. McCallister. It’s nice to know that if I did go into labor before our regular OB gets back into town, there is another Dr. that can step in that I’ve at least met and feel comfortable with.

This evening, we returned to the hospital for our Infant Care Class. The teacher was great and I felt like we really learned alot about how to care for an actual newborn. She covered everything from sponge baths, to caring for the umbilical cord to swaddling – things that I’m sure Jeff and I will become experts at within a few weeks. While the rubber dolls they give you to practice on are pretty awesome, I still find it hard to imagine transferring the skills we practiced onto an actual baby. Jeff seems to be completely at ease – the teacher even commented on how cute he was handling the doll! He is really turning out to be the star pupil at these classes- hopefully I’ll catch up when it comes to the real thing 🙂 The only class that we have left to take is the infant CPR class – it’s a skill set I hope I never have to use!

33

Posted by on July 11, 2012 No comments

Hi Everyone – Ashley here. I am letting Jeff take a break from posting and am here to fill you in on our latest adventure in pre-parenthood. Tonight we took a class on breastfeeding. Yes, I did say “class” and more importantly – I did say “we”. As I learned this evening, it is extremely important for the husband to not only be supportive of breastfeeding – but knowledgeable as well. The instructor strongly encourages husbands to attend the class with their wives – so much so that she offers beer and cookies to keep the men happy! Okay, maybe the cookies were for for the pregnant women…

In any case I was skeptical that the teacher would have enough to say to fill a 3-hour class, but there was so much information – I think she could have easily gone on for longer. I don’t think I will ever look at boobs in the same way again. It’s amazing that something so “natural” can be so difficult for women to master. I tried all the various “baby holding positions” – but it was a little tough trying to maneuver a rubber doll. The “football hold” seems like a god one…but who knows! I am hoping that when it comes to a real life baby, I’ll have an easier time figuring out what to do.

Luckily – if you are one of the many women who doesn’t immediately figure out how to breastfeed perfectly, help is not far away. There are scores of women in Los Angeles who make their entire living as lactation consultants. Our insurance covers up to a certain number of visits, so I hope to take advantage of these services. While I can’t predict how easy/difficult breastfeeding will be for me, it’s comforting to know that I have Jeff with me. He is an excellent coach. It’s a shame that men can’t breastfeed…because I think Jeff would be a natural!

We’re Having a Baby!

Posted by on February 5, 2012 4 comments

It’s official…we are having a baby! We have been keeping things relatively under wraps…but now that we are safely out of the first trimester, we are thrilled to announce the good news.
As of today, Lil Dubs (as we have been affectionately calling him/her) is 12 weeks and 6 days and everything is going great so far.

We had our first real appointment with Dr. Serden when Lil Dubs was only 8 weeks – we got our first glimpse and saw the heart beat. What an amazing moment. Even though we were considered very “low risk”, we decided to wait to go public with our news until our 12 week appointment. It was at this visit that we got our very first “real” picture of the baby and heard the heartbeat. We were sent to a neighboring office where the “nuchal translucency” test was completed (where they measure the fluid in the baby’s neck for signs of abnormalities) and were told by the Dr. that we have a very cute fetus. I bet she says that to everyone…though I have to admit…this little guy/girl is already looking adorable. I was shocked at how fully formed the baby is – even at this early stage. You can clearly see some of his/her features – cute little nose and lips!

Overall, I would have to say that I have been feeling pretty good – though I do have serious bouts of nausea nearly every day – which started at about 7 weeks and have yet to subside! At first, I didn’t mind the sickness – it was the only thing that really made me “feel” pregnant. Now that its been going on for well over a month, I am definitely ready for my stomach to settle down. I have also noticed that I am ready for bed at 8:30pm – and have to struggle to stay awake after that point. I tried giving in one night but that didn’t work out too well for me either – I was up at 3 in the morning and couldn’t get back to sleep. There is also the constant need to use the bathroom in the middle of the night…a new phenomenon for me.

I’ve been told that you don’t really start showing until 14 or 15 weeks…but I think I’m already starting to form a baby bump…or maybe I’m just looking fat! Either way, I’ve noticed that my regular pants don’t fit me properly – and the pair of maternity pants I bought is the most comfortable piece of clothing I own. I have a couple of events coming up for which I’ll need some nice dresses – but its kind of hard to anticipate what I’ll look like or fit into in a month or two months from now!

January 31st, 2012

More to come next week 🙂

Our Grand Entrance!

Posted by on March 8, 2011 No comments

We did it!

Posted by on March 8, 2011 No comments

It’s been just over two weeks since the wedding…hard to believe that we are really married! Life is just starting to get back to normal, and our apartment is finally starting to look more like a home and less like a storage house.

For all of you reading that were at the wedding, we hope you enjoyed yourselves. We certainly had an amazing time – the entire wedding weekend was just perfect and everything we hoped it would be. Of course, there are a few things I would have done differently in retrospect…allot more time for pictures, make sure that the hotel would honor a late checkout, arrange for our meals to be packed up at the end of the night so that we might actually get to try the delicious dinner. Don’t worry, we didn’t go to bed hungry – the caterer picked us up some Kosher Subway meals…not exactly the wedding night meal we had envisioned! Though for everything that didn’t go quite according to plan, something else turned out better than we had expected…all in all…everything worked out great. We can’t wait to start posting pictures and video!

In other news, we received our marriage certificate in the mail today, so I guess it’s official! Now comes the fun part of changing my name…I never thought I’d be attached to “Berger” – but part of me is having a hard time giving it up. Not that “Woodall” isn’t a great last name…it’s just going to take some getting to used to realizing that when someone says “Mrs. Woodall”, they are talking about me!

One month?

Posted by on January 20, 2011 1 comment

I can’t believe it…but we have one month to go! The past few weeks have been a whirlwind…sending out invitations, hair trial, finalizing the centerpiece and two bridal showers…but the most important activity was the food tasting! Jeff and I (joined by my parents), met up with the wedding caterer to get a sample of the menu being served at the wedding. It’s unlikely Jeff and I will actually have time to eat that Sunday, but the rest of you are in for a treat! Maybe if we’re lucky…someone will save us a plate 🙂