Ford is here!

Yea! After much anticipation and a very long wait we are proud to announce the arrival of our son - Ford McKey Shirley! He was born on October 17th at 9:58 AM. He weighed 8lbs 2 oz and was 21 inches long. He is just precious! We are loving having a newborn in the house again. It is such a sweet and brief time. We are just savoring every moment!
Here is the birth story for all of the girls who love to hear the details: We decided that the 17th would be the day to nudge little Ford into the world. We gave him 2 extra days to hang out and after trying every trick in the book to bring him on we decided an induction would be the best way to get him here before 41 weeks. All he needed was a nudge after all! When I was admitted and they checked me I was 4cm dilated and 75% effaced. A pretty good start to the day! She broke my water at 7:30 am and ran to a meeting. She forgot to leave the pitocin orders in her rush so we ended up not getting it started until around 8:30. In the meantime I started contracting on my own at around 8:00. When the pitocin started I was a little concerned because I was already getting pretty uncomfortable with my "natural" contractions. My nurse said she would increase the pitocin every 15 minutes until the contractions were measuring 200 and were 2-3 minutes apart. This is where I made the mistake of asking what pressure the contractions were currently measuring - her answer: 80. Yikes. I was really uncomfortable and didn't think I could make it without the epidural if the contractions were going to get more than twice as strong. I folded like a deck of cards and asked for the epidural. Rhett says that I am a mental marshmellow and if I had not know that little piece of information I would have made it. Baby's heartrate started having some issues so she put some oxygen on me and wanted to check me. I heart sank - I could see this going nowhere good. I feared I would stress the baby with an induced labor and end up with a c-section or with something happening to the baby. I was having contraction upon contraction and not getting back to my baseline so he could rest. She said I could be changing quickly so she wanted to see - 5 cm. That was about 9:00.
About this time anesthesia come in and asks Rhett to step out for 20 minutes. He goes somewhere in the hospital to read about sports on the internet. In the meantime everything intesifies. I start loosing control of the pain - at this point the pitocin has only been increased once to 4. My contraction pattern normalizes a little bit and baby is doing well with the O2. I sit up for the epidural and I am hopeful now that relief is on the way. It is taking way too long to get it going though (this is at UAB and a resident was doing it) I remember with Claire it was in about 30 seconds after the anesthesiologist walked in the door and I started feeling better quickly. Not this time. I started feeling nauseated and I told my nurse I felt like I was sitting on the baby's head. The pressure was intense and incredible. She told the anesthesiologist that she needed to check me "NOW". I laid on my side - epidural still not fully functional and she checked me - 7 cm. She said "lets get your foley in". The charge nurse was in the room and she said "we will probably take it right out". It was all happening so fast. Rhett walks in about this time and is a little surprised to say the least. I am in an incredible amount of pain by this point and just trying to get through each contraction. They are trying to get the narcotic bag to hook up to my epidural but realize that I am probably going to have a baby before pharmacy fills the order! They drain my bladder and then check me and my nurse says "she's complete" - it's 9:30. My Dr. walks in a few minutes later and I start pushing. I get a dose of fentanyl via my epidural about the time I start pushing. I've always heard about the strong urge to push - I don't know if I'd describe it like that. It was more the intesity of the pressure and the strong urge to get the baby out so the pain would end. I pushed through 5 contractions and in a little more than 10 minutes I saw my sweet baby for the first time. (Timecheck - 9:58) Even in that moment it is surreal to see your child for the first time. Two of the best moments of my life have been seeing my babies faces and meeting them for the first time. There is nothing like it.
So that's the story. Quick and intense. I could have made it without the drugs but I was not mentally tough enough once I thought it was going to get twice as bad. Of course there is no way of knowing that you only have an hour of labor left and not 6 hours left. I still got my natural childbirth (Rhett says I can't claim it but I say I can - I felt every last twinge of everything!) and the most important part is that I have a healthy baby.
Not only was the birth way easier and much quicker but the recovery has been much better too. Ironically the only discomfort I complained about postpartum was in my back from the epidural. It ended up causing more discomfort than it relieved. Oh well. So for all of you who had difficult 1st deliveries or recoveries - have hope! It gets easier!
Claire is thrilled with her brother. She was so excited to meet him in the hospital. She gave him a stuffed puppy when she met him and said "Here you go Baby!" and when Ford gave her a toy cash register so smiled and said "Da doo baby!" (thank you baby in Claire-speak). She was just as excited to see him the next day and when we arrived home she was jumping up and down with excitement to see him. I am so proud of her and how she has handled everything. Her little world has been turned upside down and she is doing so well. It makes me love her more deeply and in a new way too. And as far as loving another child as much as the first: Yes, what you hear is true - you do! I thought it would be different having a boy too but it's not. The love and joy you feel in your heart for your children flows from the same place whether it is your 1st or 5th, boy or girl - they are just your precious child and you love them.
I will post more pictures and updates soon. I'm going to grab a nap while I can! Thanks to all of your for your encouraging words and support.

My Daddy is Dr. Seuss!

Just a quick story - My mom has been here for about 10 days now waiting for Mr. Ford to arrive. She and Claire have been having a great time. Claire loves having a playmate and Mom is more than happy to oblige. My Mom, being the dedicated educator that she is, has apparently decided there is no time like the present to start preparing Claire for Kindergarten testing. This is where it gets interesting...
Apparently, one of the items on the test is the difference between an author and an illustrator so when my mom reads books to Claire she is sure to tell her who did what. Claire's favorite book right now is "10 Apples Up on Top" - we read it to her about 10 times a day! Mom was explaining to her that Dr. Seuss wrote it and would ask her "who wrote the Apples book?" and she would reply "Dr. Seuss!". Good job C - you are one step closer to kindergarten!

Fast forward - Claire asked "Where's Daddy?" and I gave her my usual response "Daddy is at work. He works at the hospital taking care of sick people" and Claire nodded her head saying "Daddy's a doctor" - "Yes, Daddy is a doctor" - I could see the wheels starting to spin in her little head. She looked up wide eyed and excited and said "Daddy is Dr. Seuss!". Well maybe we aren't quite ready for kindergarten!

Claire started doing something wonderful this week although we are a little perplexed by it. We have been working on counting recently and she has just about nailed 1-10 on most tries ("one" was holding us up for a long time!) so I thought I'd try to introduce Spanish numbers too. I started by saying "let's count in Spanish! Uno . . . " and Claire procedes to pick up "dos, tres, quatro, cinco, seis, siete, OCHO, NUEVE!" What the . . .? Who taught her how to count in Spanish? No she does not watch Dora. No they did not teach her in school. The only thing we can come up with is a CD that we listen to in the car (quite regularly) that counts in English and Spanish during one song. How amazing those little brains are at this age. They are just wired to learn everything around them. Rhett and I are excited about her learning Spanish since we will be in Peru for at least several months next year and perhaps longer depending on his research decisions. We would love to have another language so we are making that a priority for our kids although we will be a little jealous of them and perhaps frustrated when they plot against us in another tongue!

Oh, perhaps you are wondering about the baby. No he has not been born yet. I am still pregnant somehow! We are giving him every chance but we don't want to go past 41 weeks so we will probably intervene this week if he doesn't step up to the plate. I'm going for another pedicure today - I had tons of contractions when I had my pre-baby pedicure almost two weeks ago! The polish has chipped and there is still no baby but that is the most action I've had in my attempts to nudge this baby (and it feels quite nice!) so I'm going to treat myself again. Maybe he works on a deadline and will realize that his time is up now! It's time to join the rest of us. I can't wait to see what he looks like! Hopefully we will have news soon!

Still waiting . . .

No baby news yet! We are still waiting on little Ford to decide to check out the outside world. I was 3cm in the office on Wednesday. My doctor says I'm right there - I just need a few good contractions or for my water to break. So we just wait. I really feel like I may be pregnant forever - like this is my new reality. I can't really imagine not having this big ole belly and actually being able to reach down and pick things up again! I think Claire has given up on the baby being born. She has been hearing about him for quite a while but by now she is like "really . . . where is this baby you keep talking about?". She just kind of ignores us when we try to get her excited about him where as she used to get all into it and hug my tummy. Now she occasionally brings him some socks or a paci and lays them on my belly but that's about it. Her dolls have taken over the swing bouncy seat and carseat so Ford is going to have to work it out with the triplets as to where he is going to hang out. We will keep you posted if anything happens . . .

Let the waiting begin . . .

39 weeks today and still no baby. We are being patient and trying to be old fashioned by not being induced (for one more week anyway!). I actually feel better than I have in weeks so it makes the waiting not so brutal. I've tried all of the "tricks" to no avail so I've decided to stop making life more complicated and just wait. We were hoping Ford would come a little early (OK more than a little early) on 9/28 since Rhett, Claire and my birthdays are all on 28ths but he apparently didn't realize how cool that would be and has decided to pick his "own" birthday. Typical second child . . . trying to be different.
My mom got here over the weekend to help with Claire during the final wait and while I'm in the hospital. It has been wonderful. I told Rhett we should consider taking another wife. Last night he cut the grass, I cooked dinner and Mom gave Claire a bath and got her ready for bed. I realized there is enough work around here for 3 people and by only having 2 we are each overloaded. I'm going to enjoy it while I can because in a week there will be enough work for 4 people to do!
We will keep everyone posted on baby news . . . Thanks for your prayers for Ford's safe arrival!

The big tummy

My wonderful friends in Birmingham had a shower for me last weekend where I got lots of little blue things for this baby boy! It's amazing how many things are gender specific. I just can't wrap Ford in a pink blanket or give him a pink bottle! Lucky for him my sweet friends helped us out and we are now ready to have a baby! My mom, mother-in-law, grandmother-in-law, and both sister-in-laws were in town to celebrate with us. We also got to celebrate Aunt Chrissie's birthday while she was here so that was fun.
The tummy just keeps getting bigger and bigger! I'm 36 1/2 weeks and when I went to the doctor yesterday I was 1.5 centimeters dilated (sorry if that is TMI but I'm excited!). Only 8.5 more to go! I'll take as many of these "easy" centimeters as I can get because once you go into active labor you have to work pretty hard for them. I'm in my final stages of nesting. I've got the rooms finished, car seat installed, baby clothes washed, flowers planted and baby announcements addressed. I just need to pack my bag and I'll be ready to go! I'm anxious to get this baby here safely and know that he is healthy. Thanks for all of your prayers and encouragement in the last few weeks.

Big Girl Bed

Well, we took the plunge last week and moved Claire into her big girl bed! We wanted to get her moved well in advance of the "new" baby taking her room. So far she's done great - except for the two times she's fallen out! As you can see from the pictures she is in a virtual fortress of pillows and bed rails but nonetheless managed to fall off of the foot of the bed. I guess she is just used to rolling around until she hits something in her crib and once she was turned sideways in the bed she just kept rolling until she hit the (hardwood) floor with a thump. Rhett and I were both out of bed and in her room in out 2 seconds (I was quick to point out that I actually got there first - he says it's because he had to go around the bed - I think that the fact that I am 9 months pregnant makes it a pretty even playing field). Anyway, after that first fall we revisited our strategy and added a nightlight, a packnplay mattress on the floor - just in case - and some pillows at the end of the bed. She did great for a couple more days then - plop! - out she went again. This time she landed on the backup mattress and yelled out but never really woke up so back to bed she went and things have gone well ever since.
I'm glad I'm having another baby because Claire is acting way too grown up for me! She has made the move to the big girl room and has poo pooed and pee peed in the potty this week. She learned her colors recently so now we have a constant commentary on what color everything is. She loves tractors, school buses, mail trucks, ambulances and firetrucks. It keeps us busy in the car since we are on constant look out for any and all of those. One day a few weeks ago we actually saw all 5 on the way to work (and the ambulance and firetruck both had their lights and sirens on) - I know what you are thinking . . . pretty unbelievable!!! Hey, it's the little things that keep us going somedays. It's fun that Claire can talk and pretty much tell us what she wants - although most of the time that means ice cream, cookies or ice pops. She has a really good understanding about the baby and keeps saying "come out baby!" and wants to give him a "sassy" (what we call pacifiers around here). I know, I know she's too old for a sassy but I had to pick my battles. I chose to put her in a big girl bed, have a new baby and focus on potty training rather than take away the sassy. We will get there - she only uses it in bed :)

First Day of School

It's school time again! Claire started back to Mother's Day out on Friday. She is a big girl in the Toddler class this year! We actually switched schools this year but Claire hardly noticed. She loves going to play and acts like such a big girl. Our new school has a carpool line (huge bonus points since I'm about to have another baby and I won't have to get him out of the car to drop her off/pick up). Claire is usually a champ when we leave her - she has never (knock on wood) really gotten upset when we have left her anywhere - now a days I get a big "Bye Mommy!" and off she goes. I was a little worried that a stranger ripping her out of her car seat and whisking her away to a new school might be a little frightening though. I prepared her as we sat in line and waited our turn in the carpool line. I told her that her teacher would open the door and I would say "bye Claire" and she would say "bye Mommy" and she would go to school. And, well, that's exactly what happened. I was very proud of her for being so brave and was relieved that it was an easy experience for everyone. Carpool line rocks!
I'm 35 weeks pregnant now which some might call the home stretch. I am very big and very uncomfortable and ready to meet my baby. So if that qualifies as the home stretch then I'm in it. I love feeling him move around so much and it is so much fun to think about what he might look like. It crazy to think that I probably have a 6 lb baby in there. At least someone else besides me is packing on the pounds these days! Claire came about 9 days early so I am not mentally prepared to get anywhere near my due date. I'm hoping he follows suit and shows up a little bit early. I'll start drinking my raspberry tea next week :) I'm having lots of lovely Braxton-Hicks contractions like I did the first time. I'm relieved that my body seems to at least remember what to do and is preparing to do it again. In the mean time we are getting two rooms ready and trying to get everything else in order before Ford arrives. We are just about done with Claire's big girl room and hope to have her in it by next week. I'll post pictures of both rooms when we are finished. Everything was kind of on hold until Rhett took his Internal Medicine Boards on 8/30 but now that is behind us and we are able to resume a somewhat normal life and actually act like we are having another child in a few weeks!

Quare - you are so silly!

It's been quite a while since I've updated the Blog - so I have been told by several people! Sorry - we haven't really been all that busy - I guess we just haven't been doing too many interesting things lately! We traveled quite a bit in August. I was trying to get some visits in before my baby deadline. We went to visit Rhett's family in Dalton one weekend, we went to the first game in Athens and got to see my family another weekend (I watched the game comfortably from my parents couch) and we spent another weekend traveling to Augusta to see our good friends, the Mareks, who just moved there this summer.
A couple of things happened while we were in Augusta. Claire has realized that 1. snacks taste better when you are sitting on the counter to eat them, 2. jumping off the furniture onto pillows is just about the most fun a one year old can have and 3. she loves Jake Marek (the golden retriever pictured above). She talks about Jake every day. We have a book with a golden retriever as one of the main characters that I read approximately 3 times a day now. She also calls all soccer balls "Jake's ball" (you can see it in the picture above - it's kind of Jake's pacifier - he has it in his mouth all the time). We are not in the market for a dog but it is so sweet to see Claire have such affection for an animal!
The Mareks were actually in town this weekend and Claire got to spend a few hours with their boys, Cole -2 1/2 and Mason 7 months. They all had a great time together. When Claire and Cole play together it goes something like this: Claire plays with dolls and Cole plays with balls (or trucks). That is the recipe for some happy play times for both mommys and kids! Claire loved taking care of Mason and making sure he had his paci at all times. Cole calls Claire "Quare" which is adorable. They were being silly with cups on their heads while eating a snack in the other picture - also adorable. HA!

The Dog Days of Summer are here

The past few weeks have been busy around here! Rhett and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on July 26th ( I know, that doesn't seem like very long but I guess since he has been in Med school or residency the whole time plus the 1.5 kids that we have it seems like a lot longer to everyone!). A few days later I celebrated my 29th birthday. The picture on the front steps is of me and Claire on that very special day! I'm 29 weeks preggo in the picture with what appears to be a very large baby - we shall see. Anyway, we had a fun family celebration and I got the best birthday present ever from Rhett - a new mattress!! Ours was 26 years old and folded over in half when stood on it's side. It was horrible but even more so when you are pregnant. After me spending one night on the floor in protest and us sleeping in the guest room for several weeks my awesome hubby finally took the plunge to purchase us a new mattress and now I am in pillowtop heaven. Thanks sweetie!
Last week Claire and I headed to Seagrove Beach to hang out with my sister-in-law, Tish, and her family for a few days. Claire's cousin, Mac, is 13 months old now so it was fun (and interesting) to see them interact. That's about as close as we could get them to sit together in the picture! Unfortunately, Claire is not a fan of the beach. I had her dressed as cute as a button in her bathing suit and matching Crocs on the way out the the beach the first day when she realized that walking in the sand meant her shoes were going to get dirty (not an option). The other option was to get her feet dirty which is even more upsetting to my shoe-obsessed child who insists that she and everyone else has shoes on at all times. So for the first hour or so on the beach she sat in a beach chair with her feet in a pail of water. By the end of the day she was walking in the sand but digressed the next day and once again balked at the idea of sand. She loved sitting in the beach chair eating snacks (hmm . . . wonder where she learned that?) and she loved floating in the water until her mother got stung by a jellyfish and that no longer was an option. We had a wonderful time despite the jellyfish sting (nothing a little meat tenderizer couldn't take care of) and the tears related to the sand!
Claire is absolutely obsessed with babies. I suppose this is a good thing since we are going to have a real live one living in our house in a few weeks. She takes "Baby" everywhere she goes. She pretends baby is crying "waa waa" and tries to console her "shhhh Baby". She tells the baby to sit, she puts the baby down for a nap with a blanket and says "nite nite". She has even told the baby "no" and put her in the time out chair. I have taken Baby on errands with me while Claire pushed the baby in her stroller (or her "ride" as Claire calls it) with her "bag" firmly in the crook of her arm. Baby sat on the potty for the first time yesterday and according to Claire "poo-pooed" in the potty and therefore deserved an M&M. Baby went to Moe's to eat lunch with us today and Claire insisted that Baby have her own highchair. So there I sit in Moe's at a table with two highchairs - one with my baby and the other with her baby - as Claire lovingly offers Baby chips and salsa and "agua" from her cup (oh, did I forget to mention that Claire only calls water "agua"? ) Priceless.

Before/After and Snake Update

Finally we have a yard! After several months of playing on our driveway and realizing that most kids in public housing have more greenspace than our child we decided we HAD to do something so she had a place to play outside. When we bought this house 3 years ago it was a plus that we had a really big wooded lot with basically only a small yard area. Our needs have dramatically changed since then so we had to improve the yard to fit our growing family. The side area you see above has always been an unusable overgrown mess that we have basically ingnored. It was the only way to expand our yard and so we had a retaining wall built and sod put down and there you have it . . . we have a yard! We still have a lot of finishing work to do ourselves as far as mulching and doing some planting (you can see a picture of the yard boy planting my hydrangeas) but the basic canvas is there. We can't wait to play out there and get a little picnic table so we can eat lunch outside too! We were a little nervous about laying sod during the worst drough in almost 20 years but about 10 minutes after they laid the sod it starting raining and it poured all day on Saturday and we got a good soaking again today! Free water is a big deal when you start talking about watering as much as we need to the next few weeks so we were really excited.
Ok, everyone wants to know about the snake so I should update you on that saga. It ends happily for us and not so happily for the giant snake. It was about a month ago, we were getting Claire ready for bed when I heard someone knocking at the door. I went to see who it was and found my neighbor standing there barefoot, in his swimming trunks, goggles on his head, holding a dustpan and broom - I opened the door and he said "I found your snake!". I figured by the way he was dressed that the snake was in his pool but it turns out that his girlfriend pulled up to the house and found the snake laying across his front steps. The snake slid into a drainage pipe where he was hiding. We all went out there and the men attempted to get the snake out of the pipe and into a garbage bag by running a hose into the pipe. Our neighbor really didn't want to kill the snake - he wanted to take it to the creek or something. Since it was on his property I couldn't really argue although I told Rhett to go get the ax and have it handy. The garbage bag idea obviously didn't work (I could have told them that) so they tried to get the snake into a big garbage can. They managed to do that but as soon as the snake got into the can it literally stood up (all 6.5 feet) and started coming out of the can. By this time it was getting angry and trying to slither away so FINALLY they chopped the snake's head off and it was dead. So that is how the snake story ends. Hopefully, I won't have anymore snake stories in the future to share.

Happy 4th!

We spent a really relaxing 4th of July up in North Carolina at "Shirley Ridge" - Rhett's parents place near Bryson City. Rhett and I got to sleep a lot and Claire got to play with her grandparents a lot so we were all happy!
The second picture is of our PICU playgroup - Addie, Claire, Sydney and Emily Anne. I worked with all of their moms in the PICU (we are all in various stages of retirement at this point!). We all had babies within a year of each other and they were all girls. Two of us are expecting boys now which is fun and perfect for playgroup!
We had some 18 month pictures taken of Claire. I have decided to accept the fact the my daughter does not like having her picture taken. There, I've said it. I've been in denial for a while but I really just need to accept it and move on. Something happens to my laughing, giggling, happy child when a photographer shows up with a camera - usually tears are involved but mostly blank stares and no smiles. I tried so very hard to make these come out great. We even went to the botanical gardens the day before and "practiced" taking our shoes off (she loves wearing shoes, hates being barefoot and does not like walking in the grass with or without shoes). Of course I had my heart set on pictures of her barefoot walking through the gardens in a flowing white gown so I tried my best to prepare her but it didn't really work. Of course the fact that was June in Alabama and approximately 94 degrees didn't work in our favor. At some point Claire saw her beloved Bunny that I had tucked away in her bag in case of an emergency and that was basically the beginning of the end. As soon as she saw Bunny she wanted her paci (they kind of "go" together for her) and a fierce battle ensued between the two of us in the middle of the botanical gardens. I knew that if I was paying the sitting fee then I was going to win that battle and Bunny was going back in her bag and she was going to go frolick in the garden. That being said the photographer did manage to get some really great shots although our slideshow is not as stellar as some of the other ones I've seen that she's done. Here is a link to the slideshow: www.erinnolenphotograpy.com/shirley Next time I think I'll have her come to the house so at least Claire will be on her own turf and maybe she will smile!
18 months is the best age! The difference between 12 months and 18 months is staggering. It really is where they go from being a baby to a full fledged toddler or big girl as we say around here. It's like I blinked my eyes and Claire is eating with a fork, remembering everyone's name, saying big words like blueberry, delicious and peekaboo. She says "bless you" when you sneeze and is learning her shapes (her favorite - "oval"). She helps me do everything from emptying the dishwasher, putting on my makeup and mopping the floor. She gives the best kisses and hugs in the world - they absolutely make her Daddy melt into a puddle on the floor. She still sings all the time and sometimes at the end of a song she says "Amen!" and starts clapping. It's so cute. As much fun as it is to see her grow up it makes me sad that she is growing up so fast too. I guess that it is good timing with Ford on his way so we can start all over watching a little blob come home from the hospital and grow into an amazing little person.

Washington, DC

We just got home from our short trip to D.C. for the annual POW/MIA meeting. Rhett's Mom is the president of the League of Families of those missing from Vietnam (her brother is missing). We were really excited that we were able to go to support her and we had a great time too. Claire is a great traveler and loves going out and doing fun things. It was a pretty long weekend because we crammed so much travel and activites into about 48 hours but she hung in there. We did have one minor incident on our last flight home from Charlotte to B'ham. As we were oh so patiently waiting for them to refuel our aircraft (after being told to run -yeah right- to make our connection!) Rhett and I were trying to entertain Claire as our 1 hour flight was turning into a 2 hour flight. Suddenly we both look up at each other and say "what's that smell?". We look down at our precious little girl and she looks up at us and says for everyone on the small plane to hear "STINKY!!". Yes, she was referring to herself. Then the ohsofamiliar "poopey face" appears as she concentrates to finish her business and throws in a few grunts in case someone wasn't quite sure what was going on. This is not a situation that can wait so I grab my now "stinky" daughter and head up the aisle to the lavatory. The flight attendant sees me and says "you need to sit down we are about to leave" and I politely began to explain that it was in everyone's best interest that I change my child's diaper. We have flown with Claire a few times before but somehow managed to avoid the diaper-change-in-the-lavatory situation. Obviously I was about to break that tradition as I began to change my sweet baby's extremely messy leaky diaper (I won't be too descriptive but she hadn't gone in a few days - enough said). It was everywhere. All over her, the changing table and yes even the wall. In the midst of all of this she is screaming "Daaaaaaddddddy!" which is kind of funny because that is exactly what I wanted to scream too. We ended up making it back to our seats with out too much more commotion and eventually made it back to Birmingham. We are happy to be home today as we try to recover from the trip and get ready for another one this weekend. We are looking forward to going to Mac's first birthday party in Atlanta, then on to a wedding in Athens and then up to North Carolina for a few days. Whew. I need a nap already.

Summer Buzz

We've had a really busy couple of weeks around here. I taught Vacation Bible School one week and it was a doosey. I had 20 first graders to keep track of and it stretched me to my limits. God bless teachers. I don't think I have it in me. It was a fun week though. It was neat to be around kids who really understand and can learn pretty complex ideas. It was a fun age too because they weren't in that "too cool" stage and they weren't boy or girl crazy yet so they were all so sweet.
We also had to say good-bye to our dear friends, the Mareks, last week. Ironically enough they moved to Augusta where we moved from! They will be there for 3 years for fellowship. We will miss them so much. It already seems strange here without them. It seems funny to think back to when we met right after we moved here. We were just two couples - my how times have changed. We helped each other out through all the ups and downs of residency and managed to have lots of babies in the mean time! As you can see from the picture Claire is pretty upset about Cole leaving too.

Ford McKey Shirley

We are happy to announce the name of our new baby boy . . .

Ford McKey Shirley

It's exciting to have a name for the little guy and makes me even more excited about meeting him. Rhett and I see almost eye to eye on baby names which is nice. It took us about 30 seconds to name Claire. We never had a list or anything. When we found out she was a girl we both just looked at each other and said "so I guess it's Claire Louise" and that was the end of it. We held off on telling her name but decided to mix it up this time and let his name out of the bag.
The name Stafford is a family name on my side. We wanted to call him Ford so we decided to just name him Ford instead of having it as a nick name of Stafford. Rhett is big on naming them what you are going to call them so I was fine with that. McKey (pronounced Macky) is a family name on Rhett's side. It is his middle name and his Dad's middle name which is really special to Rhett. Ford will be the third generation of McKey middle named boys and the second from father to son and father to son which really means a lot to Rhett. Rhett always felt a neat connection to his Dad since they shared that middle name and now Ford will share that bond with his Dad (and Grandfather) too!
We think that Ford is a really strong name for a little boy. It passed the presidential test (Would this name sound good if he were to become President) and the ballfield test (can you hear this name being yelled from the outfield?) so we are confident that it will serve him well. We are also glad that it will be easy to pronounce and spell which is something Rhett and I will envy (he is everything from Rick to Rex and I was always "Mee-gan Swindle"). Of course having Shirley for a last name throws people off a little bit but all of us Shirleys deal with that - just ask Dr. Shirley Rhett. HA!

Last Call!

Rhett had his last Resident call this past week. We celebrated by making cupcakes as a surprise for him when he got home. It's kind of hard to believe and imagine a life without overnight call. It's something that Rhett has been doing every 4-5 nights most months of the last 3 years. We are looking forward to our "new life" as he starts his infectious disease fellowship in July. He will still have call but there aren't too many ID emergencies. The worst will be an occasional weekend that he will have to go in to round be we can handle that. Now any nights he spends away from home will be for moonlighting - which although we hate not having Daddy at home at night occasionally - at least he will be getting paid!

We went swimming the other day at the Slappey's house. We had a lot of fun in the pool and visiting with their family. Claire still really enjoys the water and is a little daredevil like her Dad. We are settling into a summer routine which is nice. We've got a lot of cleaning out and reorganizing to do before our new baby arrives this fall. We have to really maximize the space in our little house - definitely a challenge with two kids! When Claire was a baby we had all of the standard baby gear (bouncy seat, swing, playmat etc.) but none of the toys that we have now. So it will be even more crowded when we get out the baby gear again on top of the toys we have managed to acquire the last 17 months! We are trying to minimize our stuff and maximize the space we have. It's actually really good going through everything and asking "do I really need this?". You can see how easy it would be to accumulate a lot of stuff over the years if you're not careful. Rhett is currently going through several boxes of things that his parents brought after cleaning out his room at their house. I think he is enjoying his walk down memory lane but come to me and asks what he should do with his trophies from middle school. I think unless it is a Heisman or an Oscar it can go!

It's a Boy!

Here are pictures of the newest Shirley! We were excited to get the news that our baby boy is healthy and doing great! He is a little skinny (he weighs about 8 oz!) but we've got plenty of time to fatten him up before he gets here. It's hard to believe he will probably gain 7 1/2 lbs before he's born!! Rhett "knew" it was a boy from the very beginning (he was also right about Claire being a girl!) so he wasn't surprised. I kind of thought it might be a boy but it seems so strange that I could make a little boy! Girls just seem so natural to me (I guess because I am a girl and I've already had a girl) so I boy is a different experience. We are so blessed to have the opportunity to experience all of the fun things that go along with each sex. I can't wait to go to the ballet recitals and to the ball field. I would be sad if I missed either one. I'm excited about being there for Claire on her wedding day and watching her become a mother and I'm equally excited about raising a little boy into a wonderful man to give to a special woman one day.

Our unwanted visitor

Your eyes are not deceiving you - that is a snake. It is located approximately 8 feet from our front door. It was not a very good day.
Let me start over - Claire and I were headed outside to water our plants. When I opened the front door I startled a cute little chickmunk (Theodore, I think) who scurried through the brush right into the clutches of this giant snake. I proceeded to watch in horror as an episode of National Geographic Live unfolded in front of me. Little Theodore never had a chance. The snake struck him with his fangs then constricted him until his last little breath left his little lungs. It was quite graphic and quite sad but it got worse. The giant snake then proceeded to swallow the chickmunk whole. I watched as the little tail disappeared into the beast's mouth and a large bulge appeared in the body of the snake.
You may be wondering how I handled this whole situation. Well, I'm ashamed to say not well. I'm a little disappointed in myself honestly. I have worked in a pediatric ICU for 5 years now and handle life threatening emergencies without breaking a sweat. I love that part of my job - the training I've had in that setting keeps me cool and collected in most circumstances in life - or so I thought. I have to tell you that there is something about walking out your front door with your baby on your hip and seeing a six foot long, 6 inch thick SNAKE attack and eat a chickmunk that rattles you a little bit. I failed the snake test.
In three years of residency I have never called Rhett with an emergency. I thought this was a good exception. I called him in the middle of a busy afternoon at the hospital freaking out and yelling about a snake. Of course he thought I was exaggerating and it was probably a little garter snake or harmless little black snake. I was giving him the play by play as the snake snuffed the life out of the chickmunk but he still didn't understand the scale of the emergency or how close it was to our front door. I ran next door hoping our neighbor's son (who is a Marine) would have a weapon of some sort at his disposal and kill the snake. When they weren't home I told Rhett he had no choice he had to come home immediately and kill the snake. At this point Rhett is chuckling a little bit but perhaps a little concerned since I am really loosing it. I told him we needed to buy a gun (his response: "I'd be a little bit more concerned about you wielding a firearm right now than having a snake in our yard" then I told him we should consider moving (his response: No.). Once the snake had his fill he slithered off around our house - that's when I really saw how big he was and started freaking out again.
I started looking up snakes on the internet to identify it then - I found it! It was a Burmese Python I emphatically told Rhett (who had ignored my pleas and was still at the hospital). He informed we that we were not in Calcutta and the chances were slim that it was a Burmese Python. I called Critter Control and left a desperate message. I told them I didn't know whether I should call them or the Birmingham Zoo (this is the kind of snake you go to the reptile building to see). They ended up coming on Monday and told me that it was probably some sort of rat snake and he was a "good" snake. Apparently I should be happy to have this monster creeping around my yard - he eats rats and other varmits (I can testify to that) and keeps other not so nice snakes away. I was told not to worry because he probably won't bite me and if he did it wouldn't be a big deal. Mr. Critter Control searched our yard to no avail. Had he found the snake he was going to take it to his farm - that's how great this snake is! I had him spray our yard with snake repellant so now our yard smells like garlic. I think I am going to get a string of garlic and make Claire a "necklace" to wear in the yard when she plays.

Zephaniah 3:17

We have finally found Claire's life verse! After almost 16 months we finally found a bible verse that we will teach her and encourage her to claim as her own. This will be her special verse that she can hide in her heart and lean upon.

The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.
Zephaniah 3:17

Above is a family photo from Easter (Claire's little brother or sister is also starting to make his/her presence known too!) as well as a few from our recent vacation to North Carolina. We took our first family car vacation - we packed our car to the brim and hit the road for a week! Claire did great in the car - she is a great traveler (thank goodness - she doesn't really have a choice considering who her parents are). We definitely had a our Griswald moments but overall it was a wonderful time and we made some great memories. Claire loved the pool! I was a little surprised since she hasn't been in the pool since last summer and she tends to be scared of big bathtubs but she jumped right in (literally!) and had a blast!
It seems like all of a sudden one day she seems so much older! Her newest word is "more" which she uses when ever she wants anything as in "more, more, more" which really sounds like "mo, mo, mo". Hmm. She also says a lot of "no, no, no" or if she is very serious just "NO". She loves to give kisses especially to her Daddy. She starts asking for him as soon as she wakes up in the morning and doesn't stop until he comes home in the evening. Every so often during the day she looks at me and says "Da Da?".
Claire is a great eater now and likes some pretty interesting things. A few of her latest favorites : pickles, black olives and hummus. She loves Chick-fil-a (just like her mommy) and is so cute as she dips her chicken nuggets in ketchup very carefully and says "mmmm" after each bite. Too cute!

The newest Shirley

Here's the latest picture of the newest Shirley. This was at about 10 weeks gestation. It's not the best scan but you can see arms, legs, cord and even a little face. I can't wait to see that face for the first time in person! That was one of my sweetest memories of Claire - seeing her face for the very first time. I'm feeling physically a lot better this week but I'm still worried about the health and safety of the baby. I guess that just goes with the territory of being a mom. I should be able to feel him/her in the next month or so that that will be reassuring. Thanks for all of your prayers for a healthy baby and pregnancy.

More Pictures!

I haven't updated our blog in a while so I thought while I had a few minutes I'd post of few more pictures! These were all taken in the last month or so. Claire loves to go to the park and enjoys the thrill of the slide and especially loves to swing! She's pretty brave and never really acts scared of anything (except the vacuum cleaner - she is terrified of the vacuum!). Her days are filled with exploring anything and everything. She like to flush the toilet too! Her favorite word right now is "Uh Oh!" she says it when she drops something, when I drop something, when she sees something on the ground that someone else dropped at some point . . . well you get the point - she says it all the time! She like to eat with a spoon like a big girl and she has finally started drinking milk! She loves all sorts of yummy treats that her Daddy lets her have like cookies, m&ms and ice cream. The last picture is her "ice cream face". She takes a bite, makes that face, walks away then turns right back around for another bite!

Big Sister!

It's true - Claire is going to be a big sister! We are happy to announce that we are expecting another baby October 15! It's hard to believe that Claire won't be the baby anymore and it's crazy to imagine another little Shirley! We are so excited and ready to see our family grow a little more.
This is how I broke the news to Rhett- we were getting ready to go visit a friend in the hospital when I put Claire's "Big Sister" shirt on her and sent her into the bathroom where Daddy was brushing his teeth. He turned around and saw her and said "Hey Big Sister! Who's big sister are you?" Then he realized what was going on and nearly choked and said "What? Really??". It was fun! We were happy that we could tell both of our families together at a family celebration recently. Once again, Claire donned her Big Sister shirt and wondered into the living room at Rhett's parent's house (picture above) needless to say there was a big ruckus and let's just say some people caught on sooner than others! Please pray for us and the baby as we await his or her arrival. The number one question I'm asked these days is "are you as sick as you were with Claire?" and thankfully the answer is no! No don't get me wrong I have spent my share of time laying on the bathroom floor between getting "baby sick" this time but it's no where near as severe as it was with Claire. It may sound strange but I'll find my self worrying if I don't feel particularly bad since that was my constant reassurance with C that everything was OK. But just about the time I start to worry a huge wave of nausea takes over and I feel better :)

Happy Birthday Girl!

Can it be true? Can my little-bitty-snuggly- bundle of baby joy really be turning one? What a difference a year makes. This time last year I had a one week old and this year I have an official toddler. I can't believe that a year ago I had just met Claire. I knew her movements well from nine months of toting her around but as I look back and think about the first moment I saw her face - the little face that I have kissed and nuzzled countless times since - it still remains the sweetest moment of my life. We fell in love with Claire those first minutes of her life in the delivery room but the past year that love has exploded into a love that in almost to great to comprehend. We are amazed by her everyday. The way she says "Da Doo" for thank you and sings "la la la" almost constantly, how she loves to be chased around a chair until she laughs so hard she falls down, how she hates to put her pajamas on after her bath, how she loves to bark at dogs (and anything with 4 legs), how she loves to empty the cabinet and play with all the dishes - stirring and stacking and pretending, how she loves cheese and refuses to drink milk, how she loves to throw balls and how she says "hello" when the phone rings. So many things to be amazed by and the list grows every day.
We celebrated her birthday on January 7th by having a Polka Dot Party. She wore a pink polka dot dress that I made her and had a polka dot cake. She had lots of friends and family here to celebrate with her and we had lots of fun. She loved her cake but did not like her party hat! She and her cousin Mac had fun together (pictured above). He is getting old enough to interact with her and they actually play together (or at least next to each other) now. It is fun to think about the fun to come with the two of them. When we try to get pictures of them together they generally just poke and pat each other which is turning into jabbing and pushing as they get older and want to check each other out. All of the pictures of them together pretty much look like that one except occassionally Claire has her finger in Mac's ear!

Merry First Christmas!

There has been a lot going on at the Shirley House since our last post. We had a wonderful holiday season with lots of celebrations with family and friends. In December we made a trip to Dalton from Claire's Great Grandmother's (better known as Gamma) 90th Birthday Party! It's amazing to think about celebrating Gamma's 90th as we prepare for Claire's 1st! A lot has changed in ninety years! We were also excited to spend our first Christmas as a family of three in our home in Birmingham! It was very different from Christmas of 2005 when I was waiting to have "the baby" at any moment! Claire decided to hang out for a few more days and just missed her first Christmas last year. It was a wonderful celebration this year and she was able to participate and really have fun which was neat. My mom and dad came for a few days at Christmas and then we headed to Dalton a few days later to spend time with Rhett's family. Claire now has more toys than she knows what to do with and has fun playing with them everyday!

California Girl!

We went on our first family vacation in November to San Diego! We had such a wonderful time! Claire is already a world-class traveler (lucky for her since her parents have been known to go to some crazy places!). We went to the San Diego zoo, went hiking at Torrey Pines and went on plenty of long walks on the beautiful southern California beaches! Claire had lots of firsts on the trip including her first plane ride and her first time to see the ocean! The picture above is when she first saw the ocean and tried out the sand (she's not a fan!). We made so many precious memories on the trip!
We are now looking forward to her first Christmas this week! Her most recent tricks are barking like a dog (she barks at anything with 4 legs!), showing you where her toes are and taking a few wobbly steps behind her walker!

Our little Pumpkin

Fall Greetings! Above are some recent photos of all of our fun fall activties. The top one is of Claire at the Great Pumpkin Patch a few weeks ago. We had a great time riding the tractor and playing in the patch with our friends. You may recognize the babies in the next photo from an earlier post - those are Claire's buddies Sydney and Connor! It is so much fun to see them grow up together and amazing to think that we were all pregnant this time last year and didn't even know our precious little ones! The next one is one of my favorites of Claire with some pumpkins here in Birmingham. And the next one is of our little Piggy! She was dressed up here getting ready to go to the Costume Parade that we hosted at a local park for our friends (that's where the picture of Sydney, Claire and Connor was taken). We had a great turn out of about 20 kids with lots of parents and grandparents there to take part in and watch the parade. We are making it an annual event and hope it gets bigger and better every year!
Claire is moving all about these days. She was thrilled to figure out that instead of yelling when we leave a room she can just follow us! She waves bye-bye but instad of saying "bye-bye" when she waves she says "da-doo". Hmmm. She also loves to clap and make noises by strumming her lips. She talks or sings constantly! What a fun age with so many priceless moments every day!

A Lovable Face