Wade is One Month Old

Wade is one month old today.  He's growing fast (goodbye small Gerber onesies, hello big boy clothes) and doing great.  I have three weeks of maternity leave left which means that Ryan has three weeks until summer vacation.  Not surprisingly, one of us is happier about this than the other.

Wade and I continue to take our daily walks (the only exercise the doctor will allow for me at this point), read lots of books, and have started going on more outings.  This week we visited my work, the mall twice, and had a playdate with 4-month olds, Eli and Lucy.  (Well that was more for Melody and I than for the babies.)  We have been loving the nice weather and are not too excited about the cooler, rainy forecast for the week ahead.

Mom & Dad's First Night Out

Ryan and I had our first Wade-free night yesterday.  We saw Jimmy Buffett in concert.  It was a warm afternoon for tailgating and a gorgeous night for an outdoor concert.  It wasn't that hard to leave Wade, since it was only for the evening and he was in the good hands of Grandma and Grandpa Lesinger.  Plus, we made up for lost time in the middle of the night! 

Ryan scheduled a personal day for today which gave me the chance to sleep in and to run errands.  We took both Wade and Annie for a walk and soon it will be time for Wade's first real bath (he has only had sponge baths but his umbilical cord fell off this week and he's ready for the real thing.)

I might not be working but TGIF anyway!

Wade and His Family Members

Wade and Annie, enjoying Tummy Time. Yes, he is anxiously awaiting the arrival of head/neck control!

Ryan and Wade, listening to Wade's new Jimmy Buffett lullaby cd. It's instrumental, so Ryan sang the lyrics to him. He changed the words to "Why Don't We Get Drunk and Screw", because it just didn't seem child appropriate.

Wade's fussy here, but I had to make sure I got included in the blog. It was a warm day so Wade got to wear his "Mommy's Little Hero" onesie - it's not often that we've seen his arms and legs and he looked super cute!

Last week was our first week of "normalcy." Ryan was at work all week and our helpers were gone. I did most of the overnight wake-ups on my own and I thought the week went pretty well. Wade and I are getting into a routine, as much as we can at his age, and every morning includes a walk around the neighborhood. I didn't realize how much work it is to push a stroller up hills!

I was thrilled when the weekend came around so Ryan would be home with us. The three of us made our first real outing (excluding Wade's doctor's appointment) on Friday for dinner. The hostess asked if we needed a children's menu. We also visited Dairy Queen last night. Wade slept through most of both outings, but Ryan and I still felt like we accomplished something.

This week brings another "normal" week, though we still have a lot of visitors stopping in. Ryan's off Friday, so that's a bonus!

Wade's Arrival (Nearly 2 weeks ago)

A quick apology to anyone who has been checking the blog lately! I'm sure you've heard the news by now so this belated post shouldn't be anything too new. After 19 hours of labor and an eventual C-section, we welcomed Wade George into the world at 9:15 p.m. on April 8. He weighed 10 pounds, 0 ounces and measured 21.5 inches.

Mom may deserve most of the kudos for the event, but Dad was along for the long ride as well.

This sweet little baby is only about 12 hours old and didn't wake up for much of his first photo shoot.

After 4 days/5 nights in the hospital, we're back home and adjusting to our new life. Ryan's back at work and I'm adjusting to life as the homemaker (who still logs on to work a bit most days), at least until June 1 when we switch roles for the summer.

Wade had his first doctor's appointment yesterday and is now weighing 11 pounds, 2 ounces, which puts him in the 97th percentile. He's not chubby though. The doctor thinks he just looks older than 12 days. Either way, he's still a tiny little newborn to us.

Oh and what's that? I heard a cry! Better go check things out.

Diaper Keg Party

Following in the footsteps of many of our friends, we threw a Diaper Keg Party last night. The party was a good chance to spend time with friends and to show off the nursery - basically one final hoorah before baby comes and takes over our lives!
So in the tradition of the Diaper Keg, Ryan and I made a bunch of food and bought a keg of beer. Our friends came to the party and got beer in exchange for diapers.
I didn't take any pictures during the party, so you are just seeing the before and after. The most amazing thing was that I managed to stay up until 12:30 a.m. - normally I'm on my second wake-up/bathroom break of the night by then.
We had a fun time at the party and we hope everyone else did too! We received 1,271 diapers from size 1 to size 5 (luckily everyone skipped the newborn size!) and also over 1,000 wipes too! Thanks to everyone for all the diapers and for celebrating with us!

Getting Ready for Baby

Wow, how baby and I have grown in 9 weeks! Tomorrow we get the 36-week ultrasound and we'll find out just how big he really is.
Now that the showers are over, I took time to photograph the completed nursery. Come see it in person as I'm sure the pictures are missing a lot!
A lot of people have helped us prepare the nursery. Thank you to all of them for their time and attention to detail!

Brueckmann Baby Shower

Soon-to-be Aunt Kristin and Grandma Terrie threw a baby shower today at Bill & Terrie's house. The above picture is not great...but I was fighting hotmail for 10 minutes to download any pictures and only got 2 before I gave up all together. So, here I am with both of Baby Brueckmann's grandmas.
The shower was really nice and thanks to everyone's generosity, we now have (nearly) everything we'll need for Baby Brueckmann. Terrie made him a very cute blanket and we also received some great clothes, toys, towels, sheets, etc.
The new bedding and clothes are in the laundry room and after a trip to Babies 'R Us for some returns of duplicate items, we should be ready for his arrival.
I went to the doctor this past Tuesday and everything's still looking good. We won't know anything new about his size until the Week 36 ultrasound, which is about a week away. So for now we are just enjoying the warmer weather and waiting for the big day.