Fisher got the Jesus Storybook Bible from some dear friends, and we have been reading it to him from his first weeks. Jed and I are criers, so it is hard to make it through some of the passages without tears. It speaks to my heart, and I overflow with joy watching my two men reading it together.
Look at that chub. Don’t you just want to squeeze him? Our boy is growing so fast. At three months he is wearing 3-6 and 6-9 month clothes. He weighs over 15 pounds and had amazing rolls everywhere. He is cooing and making the sweetest noises when awake. He loves looking in the mirror and at pictures in books.
He is probably the only person in the world who appreciates my singing voice. Jed and I are both totally tone deaf, yet Fisher can’t get enough of our singing. He even smiles through diaper changes if we are singing. We are doing mostly cloth diapers at home now, and trying to transition to using them all the time.
Breastfeeding is finally going well, but know he won’t take a bottle of pumped milk. We are trying some different brands of bottles to see if that will help. Fisher can now sit up and hold his head up when assisted. He loves lifting his feet up and putting them together, and grabbing his hands together. Outside is his favorite place to be, even though we are still in triple digits.
He is on a pretty good 3-4 hour routine with a long 8-9 hour stretch of sleep at night. He is happy most of the time, except for when I haul him too many places or forget when naptime should start. I went back to work last week, and it has been a challenge working from home with him, but I love getting to be with him. He is the sweetest boy in the world and we fall more in love every day. 
Welcome to the world, Fisher Scott Eby. We are so excited that you’re here. Our boy is 7 1/2 weeks old now, and we are getting the hang of parenting him a little more each day. It has taken me a little while to be ready to tell this story. I did not have the birth I planned or expected, and for some reason I needed to mourn the loss of that for a little while. As my due date approached, everything was looking good. I had been 3-4 cm dilated for weeks and almost completely effaced. Because Fisher was measuring large, my doctor wanted to induce before my due date. I wanted to wait until a few days after, and she respected that decision, but didn’t want me to wait very long. We negotiated for 3 days after the due date.
On May 31st we went in for our induction at 8 am. They told me not to eat, but I’ve never been a rules kid so we hit Chick-fil-a on the way. I researched eating during labor and saw that the only reason they tell you not to is because of the slim chance of an emergency c-section, and if in case of c-section the slim chance you will have to put under general anethesia. Jed made me confess to the nurse that I had eaten (he is such a rules kid), and the only consequence was that I had to wait until noon to be eligible for an epidural. So glad I ate those chicken minis.
I wanted to try to birth without meds, but knew it would be difficult with pitocin contractions. When we arrived I was 4 cm dilated and totally effaced. I started progressing well and held off the epidural until around 1. The reason I went for it was that I had my sister and brother-in-law in the room (who are a nurse and doctor) reading the monitor and telling me the strength of the contractions. I could handle them ok where they were, but knew they would be getting worse. Once back labor started I was ready for some meds.
My doctor offices 2 floors below labor and delivery, so she was in and out all day which was unexpected and awesome. Fisher was flipped sunny side up which makes for a difficult delivery, so she tried to turn him twice. This was not fun. Seriously not fun.
After laboring from 10 until 5:30, I was at 10 cm and ready to push. Fisher was still facing up so I knew I had a hard road ahead. My doctor, our awesome nurse, my mom, sister, and Jed were all in the room. I pushed with everything I had for 2 hours without much progress. Fisher moved only from a -2 to a -1. My doctor was concerned but knew I wanted to avoid a c-section so she let me push a further 30 minutes. I have never worked so hard in my whole life. My epidural wore off for the most part after 1.5 hours of pushing, and the back labor was like no pain I’ve ever experienced. My sweet sister was my doula and massaged my back throughout the pushing while Jed and our nurse held my legs. My doctor allowed me to try several different positions (all fours, on my side, etc) but nothing worked. After 2.5 hours of pushing and no movement, my doctor broke the news that I would have to have a c-section. She didn’t want to attempt to use forceps or a vacuum because he was stuck behind my pelvis and his shoulder would almost certainly break. I agreed to a c-section and the wheels went into motion. I was calm and had a peace about it, but it was pretty scary for Jed.
Because my epidural had stopped working a new had to be put in, but it didn’t work either. Finally after 45 minutes of trying to get me numb the doctor had to use local and light general anesthesia. This freaked Jed out because I had eaten a few Luna bars throughout the day (so not a rules kid). Thankfully Fisher was not in distress so they were able to wait for me to be numb. The c-section went well and Jed was handed our beautiful baby boy at 8:56 pm, just 13 hours after arriving at the hospital. He weighed 8 lbs 10 oz, and was 19 in long.
This is our first family photo. I am totally out of it, but so relieved to have a healthy baby. I just knew he was a boy the whole pregnancy. 🙂
Our sweet friends and family were in the waiting room for hours so they could meet our boy. They are awesome.
Happy Father’s Day to all the daddies out there, and especially to my own sweet daddy and my wonderful husband. I love you both and am so grateful to have both of you in my life.
Here we are, giant belly and uncooperative wiener dog included. We hope that you and yours had a wonderful day celebrating our risen Lord.
Thirty years ago today my love was born, and I am so thankful every day. He is everything I needed and nothing I expected and exactly who the Lord intended for me. He loves me so well, and I am so blessed to have him in my life. He is a man of God, kind, loving, faithful, selfless, hard working, and so much more. I cannot wait to see him hold our baby in about a month. I know he will be an amazing father. I pray that we get to grow very old together and have a long and blessed marriage. Happy birthday my love. You are the very best man I know.
Even though I’ve lived far away for the last 6 years, my sweet friends from home threw me a baby shower this past weekend. Jed was on spring break, so we headed to Little Rock on Thursday for a little extra quality time with my family and friends. We stayed with my parents as usual, but this time there were 7 dogs at the house as well as 7 people. It was a bit crowded, to say the least. I’ll post more pics of Dogapalooza ’11 later, but for now you’ll have to be entertained with Julie’s (one of the hostesses) pictures from the shower. Crystal, another hostess, hand painted the letters shown above for the nursery. I am in love with them. I can’t wait to hang them (or more likely make Jed hang them) on the wall above the crib. So cute!
Here I am, with my giant belly. This child is growing like crazy and moving like a fly girl on “In Living Color.” Does anyone remember that show? I wanted to be a fly girl so bad.
Check out that spread, y’all. My friends worked so hard and made lots of delicious food for us. We had an incredible brunch of creme brulee french toast, fresh fruit, 2 different quiches, croissants, and brownies, and 2 different cakes. The cakes were beautifully decorated to match the paintings that Crystal created for the nursery. I’ll have pics of both later. Julie created the diaper cake in the middle, which is now decorating the nursery.
Trisha, my mom’s best friend, and her daughter Sarah have known me since Sarah and I were 4 years old. Now she is the mama of sweet Maya, and I’m pregnant with my first. I love that we are still great friends after 27 years.
Marci, Julie, and Crystal put so much hard work into this shower, and I am so grateful for them. They are dear friends that I’ve known forever. Julie and I met very young playing in my neighborhood, then went to junior high and senior high school together. We’ve been roommates in the past and had a great friendship across the miles for a long time. Marci and I met in junior high youth group and became friends and partners in crime soon after that. Crystal and I met in college and were finishing each other’s sentences after a week. I love these girls and they and their families are some of my favorite people in the world. They are all mamas already, and have given me so much great advice. They really get me and it is so important to have people like that in my life. I miss living near them and hope to again someday.
Our family had a wonderful Christmas together in Little Rock, though we were missing my youngest brother Matt who was traveling in Bolivia. Here we all are, after I forced them to pose for a group picture. How cute is my niece, seriously? She is such a doll.
I hang all the flat photo cards on our reclaimed wood mirror, handmade by our dear friend Bruce. I use hemp cord and mini clothespins so that we can see the smiling faces of our friends and family. The cards that can stand on their own go on the mantle, but I forgot to grab a picture of that. I’m turning them into gift tags for next year right now. 
I found this big nativity scene at an estate sale here in Dallas for $10. The seller told me that her mom made it by hand many years ago and used to display it in their front window every year. I love that we could give it a good home. 
This teeny tiny nativity scene is from a great store in Little Rock called 10,000 Villages that is all about fair trade and supporting workers in their native villages. I love seeing the holy family sleeping soundly in the hands of God and thinking of our little family doing the same thing. 
My newest obsession is this awesome felt mistletoe that I found at Bishop Street Market down in the Bishop Arts District. Love it. I hung it from one of our rafters with hemp cord. 
In my family, our favorite holiday recipe is my great grandmother’s cornbread dressing. It is complicated and delicious and the best thing ever. We usually have it at both Thanksgiving and Christmas, and have to make 2 skillets full to keep us happy. Try it with turkey and gravy or all by itself. It only tastes right if cooked in an iron skillet.
Preheat your oven to 375. We do all the chopping and crumbling in a food processor. Saute the onions and celery in the stick of butter in the iron skillet for about 2 minutes. Mix all the dry ingredients, then add the broth. At this point, check for proper seasoning and adjust as needed. Add the eggs and veggies and mix well. Bake in your oiled heavy iron skillet for 30-45 minutes. This recipe should serve 12. 
This stuff is seriously amazing. You will love it and become as addicted as we are. Consider yourself warned.