My Best Friend's Wedding...

cue the music and dancing lobsters...

Last weekend (August 29th), my friend Erin, who I've known since 7th grade, got married. And she married my friend from work, Matt (yes, I'm starting my own match-making service since I've been so successful!)

For months, I've feared that I wouldn't fit into my dress, or that I would have a tramatic delivery and wouldn't be able to dance at her wedding. Well, I'm happy to report that I worried for no reason! The dress fit and I danced up a storm!

It was a great weekend and thanks to my parents, we were able to enjoy all of the events without having to worry about Jayna! But I will say that at the end of the night, I was very happy to see her again!

the circus is still in town...

so, as you may know, we had people staying with us almost full-time for the first 4 weeks after Jayna was born. i basically decided that if i could get through August, i could get through anything... well, August ended with a visit from the Michler-Weniger family from Germany - all 5 of them (3 little boys!!!).

It was much easier than I ever could have expected - the boys were super well behaved, but it pretty much sealed the deal for me that I can not handle having 3 children (sorry husband). I'm barely surviving with 1 - i can't imagine how Inga handles 3 boys... but they sure are cute!

6 weeks...

I can't believe that I have a child who is 6 weeks old. And I still feel like I have absolutely no control over our days. Hopefully that is normal, but if not, I'm starting to not care - that must be the sleep deprivation talking...

So, I am writing about 6 weeks, because we had to go back to the pediatrician since Jayna is not gaining weight - well, enough weight. So, today at 6 weeks and 1 day, she's weighing in at a hefty 8 lbs even. It's crazy to me that other people have bigger babies at birth - to us, she seems so much bigger, but she's not even 2 lbs bigger than she was 6 weeks ago. The pediatrician hasn't fired us yet as her parents, but when we go back for her 2 month check-up, things might be different.

For the past 2 days, she hasn't stopped eating, so we're hoping that this is a growth spurt - hopefully something will come out of it other than her getting taller - she's in the 75th percentile for height, but only 10th for weight... I guess husband and I are not that big, so we can't expect her to be a chunker, but we'd like her to stay on the percentile chart...

Looking back over the past 6 weeks, I'd say that this has been a lot harder than I ever expected. Oliver has been amazing - he should be awarded the "best dad of the first 6 weeks" title, but it's still different. The time has been so hard for me because I'm putting a lot of pressure on myself, which I realize is something that I can control, but I just can't help it. She's not gaining enough weight, so of course I think that it's my fault and that I'm not feeding her enough. Every time she cries, is fussing, or gets cranky, my first thought is that she's hungry and she's not getting enough from me. I know that breastmilk is best, but if it's making me this stressed out, it may not be worth it in the long run. I'm going to stick with it until her 2 month appointment and see if she's gaining more weight. If not, I may throw in the towel...

So, some things that she is doing at 6 weeks:

1) still staring at us - it's like she's trying to take in every inch of our faces - and we love it!

2) discovering her feet - she kicks everything - this is great except when I'm feeding her because when she kicks she and she's attached to me, it hurts.

3) always wants to be held - this is cute for a while, until we want to sleep, eat, go to the bathroom, or really do anything other than hold her. I keep reading that you can't spoil her at this age, so I'll continue to hold her - I know at some point she won't want to be held anymore...

4) smiling - she's been smiling in her sleep, which is so adorable, but she's finally started to smile at us. the 'reactive' smiles can all probably be counted on one hand right now, but we're really looking forward to more.

5) cooing - she's talking/cooing at us. She'll try to mimic sounds when she hears them (at least we think this is what she's doing).

6) showering - we've given up the baths and I have been taking her in the shower with me - she seems to LOVE this! We're gonna need to find some swim lessons for her soon!

She's basically perfect right now with the exception of the weight gain, so hopefully she's start beefing up soon and then everything will be ok...

Jayna - please start gaining weight - otherwise you're gonna get picked on in school for being too small...

1 month old

Jayna,

You're now 1 month old. It's hard to believe it. Not because you're growing up too fast or anything like that, but because a little over a month ago you were still inside of me. It feels like years have passed since I was pregnant - not weeks.

Things that you're doing right now:

1) Grunting - wow, I never knew that babies grunted so much - the pediatrician says it's normal - but man are you loud.

2) Hiccups - at first I thought the hiccups were cute, but now they're just plain annoying. Everytime you start falling asleep, they seem to appear and this keeps you awake.

3) Awake time - what's up with this? I thought I was supposed to sleep when you sleep - how can I do this when you're always awake? Yeah, you sleep great at night, but during the day you like to stay up as much as possible.

4) Swinging - Jay and Sheri gave us their swing and you just love it - you stare at the fish as you swing and grunt happily.

5) Screaming - wow do you have some good lungs. The screaming mainly happens around your hunger. I don't really understand this since we're usually waking you up to eat anyway. If you could sleep through your hunger, how come you start screaming for food as soon as we wake you up - you go from 0 to 60 in like 2 seconds.

6) Feeding noises - We've labeled you little miss piggy when you're eating because you grunt, snore, snort, and cough/choke because you're gulping so fast. We've got to teach you table manners...

7) Eye contact - you like to stare at us - we like this a lot... We just wish you'd sleep a little more and stare a little less...

8) Burping - I leave this one for last because you make the best facial expressions when you're being burped. I find you to be the cutest during these times!

I think 8 is enough for this month. We've decided to take your monthly picture with Mr. Bear so we can see how you grow! Hopefully next month you'll be a little bigger (apparently you're in the 10th percentile for weight, but 75th for length)!

Anyway, it's been fun watching you change over this past month - you were really light skinned, then you got dark, and now you're light again. Your eyes have gone from blue to a grey color, and you seem to be losing some hair... I look forward to seeing how different you are next month!

Love, mom

Jayna's First Concert

Just getting back from Jayna's first concert - at 3 weeks and 2 days. Can't really call it a concert, as we walked around the edges of Piedmont Park here in Atlanta, trying to get a glimpse of Sir Paul McCartney as he was playing a crowd of 40,000 in somewhat rainy weather. Of course it ended up being a little rainy - after they forecasted rain this entire week and nothing came, tonight had about 30 minutes of thundershowers that we got stuck in. Keeping Jayna dry wasn't easy - check out the pictures on the left and below...

Oh - and of course we took some video too...

Introducing...

Jayna Sheela Koehler... Ok, so i'm only 19 days behind schedule... :) Anyway, our daughter (yay, it's a girl!!!) was born on July 23, 2009 at 4:50pm. However, she was not quite the Gigantor that was predicted - weighing in at 6lbs 9ozs and 20.5 inches long.

Having a child has not at all been what I expected - good and bad. Somethings have been easier than I would have ever thought (recovery from a c-section), but somethings have been a lot more challenging (nursing).

It's also been a circus at our house since we came home from the hospital. We've had relatives staying with us non-stop. It's been nice to have the help and everyone has been so excited to spend time with Jayna, but we're also looking forward to spending time just the 3 of us (and the cats).

I'll post more pics later...

hello world... meet Gigantor

Dear Gigantor (Baby),

It's been forever since I've written you a letter, but seeing as there are only about 3 more weeks that we have with you living in my belly, I thought I would let you know how I'm feeling about things.

First of all, thanks for being so good these past few months. As you know, after you moved in, you weren't the best 'guest' for about 4 months - making me sick every day - I was definitely thinking that you would be an only child. But luckily the last 3-4 months have been a piece of cake...until last week.

I got to see you last Monday during an ultrasound. One of the reasons we had the ultrasound was to see if you were growing adequately. Well, wouldn't you know that you're growing just fine - in fact, you're big. You're ABOVE average in weight. Who would have thought that Husband and I could have an ABOVE average in weight child? Last week you were already estimated to be 6lbs 3oz. And that's with 4 weeks to go. So, that's where your new name comes from. You're gigantic and I have a panic attack everytime I think about how you're getting out of the belly. Oh, and you have huge chubby cheeks that kind of look like you're storing nuts in them for winter. Oh, and you look like a boy.

Speaking of what you look like, your Indian Grandmother thinks that you're definitely a girl because you have a fast heartbeat (old wives tale) and because I was sick for the first 4 months (another old wives tale?). Your German Grandmother thinks that you're a boy because I haven't gained weight in my face and apparently boys cause that. Your German Grandfather hopes that you're a boy because he has 2 granddaughters, and your Indian Grandfather has not voiced his opinion - what do you think, dad?

Oh, so I was telling you what else has happened this week - In addition to finding out that you're going to be gigantic, it turns out that you've given me this skin condition where I want to scratch my skin off. That's not so pleasant. But Benadryl has become my best friend, so I think I can make it through the next few weeks.

And when I say a few weeks, I would like for you to hold off coming for atleast 1 week. I have plans scheduled through the 19th, so that would be great. And Gigantor, I'm behind on everything. I still haven't finished my last round of thank you notes. I haven't packed my bag, your bag, set up your crib (mainly because it hasn't arrived), and your father has not pre-registered us at the hospital (well, ok, he did, but unfortunately it was the wrong hospital so he has to do it again - who does that???). My point is that there is a lot to do. Although we did buy a really comfy chair for the balcony outside your room this weekend.

I am looking forward to meeting you, althought Husband and I discussed again last night that we really have no idea what we're getting ourselves into. Not really much we can do about that now! We are growing tomatoes in our yard, so at least we're becoming more domestic - that's a step in the right direction, isn't it?

Here's the most recent picture of us together... ignore the swelling in my feet and legs - apparently that's another side effect from you...

Love,

Your Mom