Ready… Aim…

It's been a little while since we've had time to write much on the blog (though the twitter posts have been pretty consistent these days) but an event happened today that simply can't go untold. After a bit of a fussy afternoon Elijah went to stay with his Grammy and PaPa for a few hours. Apparently (so the tale goes) PaPa was holding him as they were preparing to bring him home. The ever adoring Grammy reached out to take Eli and was, of course, all smiles.

Then, time stopped. Not all of time, mind you, just most of it. The part that didn't stop allowed Eli's belly to rumble and tumble as his last meal quickly traveled up his little throat, out from between his little lips, and across a majestic arc spanning the void between his mouth and Grammy's unprepared (and apparently wide open) smile. Now things might have been okay except that time chose that precise moment to resume making Grammy fully aware of everything that had just transpired and, quite understandably, she was... displeased. PaPa on the other hand was quite amused. Apparently as bad as the stuff smells when it comes back up it tastes even worse. Good thing it was just formula!

“Little Mo” With the Gimpy Leg

Poor Danielle has spent the past week and a half in pain. She managed to sprain her ankle answering the door and, with a 4 week old baby, was obviously reluctant to take the time to go to the doctor. Long story short, the doctor (not to be confused with "The Doctor" whch would have been really cool and probably infinatly more helpful) was seen anyway and now Danielle is hobbling arond on crutches. Well, she was on crutches, but we found that the rolley office chair is much more efficient for getting around on the hard wood floors.

She's doing her best to be "Super-Wife-Mommy" but a five week old son and crutches don't really make for the best circumstances around the house. That leaves me as the only mobile human on the premises and that's just not a good idea for anyone. I may be wearing slightly less than clean shirts to work this week and our dishes are starting to bear a striking resemblance to various wonders of the ancient world.

Hopefully this is short lived, but when we're old we'll have no lack of interesting stories about Eli's first few months. In the meantime, I guess I'm stopping on the way home from work for paper plates.

The Story So Far

Just one day shy of three weeks as a family of three, I guess it's time to take a look back and record a bit of what's been happening lately. Thomas Elijah Pruitt was born on February 18, 2009 at 10:00 PM. Initially we had some concerns because of the lack of "liquid output" over the first 24 hours. We might have had to stay an extra day at the hospital if not for just a little bit of pee about 32 hours in. (Blogging about pee... how mature)

We took him home on February 20th, Danielles birthday, and began the process of getting used to living as a family of three (Sample 1 | Sample 2). The 21st & 22nd both brought doctors visits over the "output" issue. A little supplemental fluids and everything was back on track.

I spent the first week at home with Danielle and it was a valuable, but trying time. Sleep wasn't exactly something in large supply, despite Eli's generally quiet / calm behavior. Learning to feed was a difficult thing. Eli would (and still does) fall asleep many times almost as soon as he would begin eating. We were blessed to have about 2 weeks of dinner dropped of by family & friends. It's amazing what a difference something as simple as not having to cook dinner can make. Grandma & Grandaddy came by several times and Grammie and Papa did as well. Those brief times of having someone watch Eli while we got to sleep meant more than I think they knew.

And now, today is our second wedding anniversary. As we look around the house, we suddenly look like those "people with kids". Car seat parts sit on the floor beside a rocking swing. Breastfeeding pullows sit on the floor under a coffee table littered with everything from pacifiers and booklets from the pediatrician, to comfort foods like Slim Jims and a chocolate orange. (Yes, Slim Jims are comfort food. Don't argue.) The other couch is perpetually decorated with a towel for Eli because... well... it's not microfiber and pee soaks in. Two years into this thing and suddenly we're a family. Sometimes I look at Danielle and see a mom. Sometimes, like now, I look and make it a point to see my wife.

The past three weeks have been a blur on one hand and the longest three weeks ever on the other, but I can't imagine anything being more amazing for our family than having the Lord give us Elijah to care for. In some ways these are some of the hardest times Danielle and I have ever known, but I know we'll eventually look back on them with grateful hearts toward the God who walked through them with us. Even now, I wouldn't trade her or Eli for all the ease in the world.

Happy anniversary Danielle. I took you for better or worse, but I kind of cheated. I knew going into it that with you, there was no chance of "worse".

Happy Birthday

At 10:00 p.m., after 13 1/2 hours of labor (only 20 minutes active labor), Danielle delivered our son, Thomas Elijah Pruitt. At birth he was 7 pounds 1 ounce / 20 inches long.

He's absolutely amazing. He's been so quiet. The one thing is... He has really big feet!!!

*NOTE: This post was published just after Elijah's birth, but was uploaded with an incorrect publish date.

Twitter Update

OK twitter seems to no longer updating on the site. See twitter.com/cpruitt

Twitter on Delivery Day

So tomorrow we're scheduled to be induced and deliver our son. Generally our tweets live in the Twitter section of the sidebar but tomorrow they'll be taking center stage (at least that's the plan... It's not so much working this second). The tweets will be posted as regular blog entries and perhaps I'll kick out the occasional short blog and photo from the WordPress app on my iPhone. The goal here really isn't to keep the masses informed, as much as it is to give ourselves a bit of a record of the day. So if things work well and the Twitter Powers cooperate, hopefully tomorrow will be a day that's fun to look back on.

Scrapbooking With Photoshop

Tonight I decided to give photoshop a try and created my first page for the baby's scrapbook:

Home stretch…

We had our weekly doctor visit this week and received some exciting news. The doctor could feel the baby's head and states he is VERY low and his head is in the perfect position for delivery. As of Thursday, I was 50% effaced but hadn't started dilating yet. He said my body was ready to go and I should start dilating anytime.

We spoke to him more about the induction. He's going to keep an eye on me and if he feels that my body is ready to deliver and needs a little push, he'll induce me somewhere between three days before and three days after my due date. Apparently there is a recommended dosage of pitocin that most doctors use but it's more than the body actually needs. He'll start me on a much lower dosage and will only increase it if my body needs it. If I'm given the pitocin and my body starts doing all the work on it's own, then he'll take me off the pitocin all together for a more natural birth. We're both very comfortable with everything now and trust our doctor with everything because he really is great.

I switched over to the heparin this morning. It looks a little intimidating... instead of pre-filled syringes we have to draw it out of the vile ourselves and the needle is slightly bigger but I'm happy to say that the medicine doesn't feel like liquid fire like the lovenox did. I'll be taking two injections a day from now until I go into labor.

Cliff and I are driving to Orlando today to pick up the dresser for the nursery. I know, driving such a long way sounds crazy but we haven't had much luck in finding a dresser in our price range so this seemed to be the best option. Besides, we enjoy car trips and look forward to spending some time together since this may be our last weekend before we're officially parents. By the end of the weekend the nursery should be pretty much finished. I'll post pictures as soon as they're available!

Thornhammer Merch

Danielle has always been irritated by my attempts to name our son Thornhammer, so I've decided that "Thornhammer" will now be his band. Like any good ex-rock-star knows, the secret to a stellar band is not musical talent, inspiration, determination, or even the "big break". No, the secret to an epic rock band is something far deeper and integral to the very soul of the band itself... merchandise.

To that end I've decided to give my son's career a massive jump start by creating this totally rad "Thornhammer" tee shirt, sized specifically for the 6 month old rocker.

True fans can download the desktop wallpaper too.

(Incidentally Danielle was far less excited about this than I was)

Belly Photos

Today my brother Matt came over and took some "Belly Photos" for us. I've got to go through and do some touch ups and such but here's one we did some playing with (some quick contrast changes and masking).