Baby: The First Dozen Days

Laura Marie turned12 days old last evening.  Some thoughts from the past couple weeks:

  • When Carolyn was in the throes of childbirth, at one point she stuck out her bottom lip.  She does this when she’s sad or hurt.  A moment later the baby came out and started crying, and she stuck out her lower lip.  She looked just like her mommy, only seconds after being born.  It was so cute!
  • Nothing could prepare us for how awesome it is to have a new little baby.  Nothing could prepare us for how extremely challenging it is to have a new little baby.  This whole experience has provided further evidence for the axiom which says that the most rewarding things in life can also be the most challenging.
  • Several days ago some friends stopped by.  It was a mom and her three small children.  As her four-year-old son looked at Laura Marie, he told me, “Um, Pastor Nathan?  Our mommy used to have some babies, and now they’re us!”  And he grinned real big.  It struck me that it really won’t be too long before Laura Marie is a smiling four-year-old whose mommy and daddy used to have a baby, and now it’s her.
  • The way people have treated us in recent weeks helps me to better understand the gospel.  So many people–and I mean sooo many!–have been so generous to us!  They gave us everything we needed for the baby.  They gave us money.  They came to four baby showers.  They sent cards–we still get at least one in the mail every day.  We have so many gift cards that we don’t even spend money anymore except for rent and utilities.  And our church family has brought us dinner 11 days in a row!  We are so grateful to so many people.  Those around us have been a tangible expression of God’s love, grace, and care.  There is simply no way to thank them enough or express how much their kindness means to us.  That’s how it is with the gospel: God has given us salvation in Jesus Christ, and there’s no way we could ever repay Him or thank Him enough.  All we can do is be thankful and love Him in return.  Wow, we are so crazy blessed.
  • Carolyn and I marked our fifth wedding anniversary yesterday.  They say that five years is the ideal time to have children.  You’ve had enough time to become established in your marriage relationship, but you’ve not become too set in your ways.  We hit the five-year mark when the baby was 12 days old.  Guess we couldn’t have timed it much better!
  • Carolyn and I were married at 2:00 in the afternoon, and that morning I sat in the living room wearing a tuxedo and watching The Andy Griffith Show with our friends Derrick and Joy while I waited for the big moment to arrive.  When Carolyn was in labor, there was an all-day Andy Griffith marathon that played in the background most of the time while we waited for the big moment to arrive.  Strange how The Andy Griffith Show has popped up to soothe me on the two biggest days of my life.
Published in: on June 20, 2009 at 11:45 am Leave a Comment

Laura Marie Hyde

Laura Marie is here!  She was born on Sunday, June 7, 2009 at 5:01 p.m.  She weighed in at 7 pounds 10 ounces and 20.5 inches long.  We brought her home yesterday afternoon.  Mom & baby are both doing great!

I’ll write more whenever I get a chance…which could be after she goes to college.

Published in: on June 10, 2009 at 8:42 pm Leave a Comment

Laura Marie’s Cute Little Face

Oops, I never posted this picture from last week’s sonogram.  Here’s Laura Marie at 36 weeks:

Published in: on May 19, 2009 at 12:32 pm Comments (5)

Packed and Ready

Carolyn is at week 37, which means that Laura Marie is now technically considered full term.  So the family bags for the trip to the hospital are now packed and waiting on the living couch for the big moment.

From left to right: Daddy’s bag, Baby’s bag, Mommy’s bag:

In case you’re wondering why the baby has her own bag, it’s because her mom has several different outfits picked out for her to wear home.  She wants to wait until the baby is born so she can pick an outfit that best matches her personality.  And each outfit is accessorized–matching hat, bib, socks, etc.

Published in: on at 12:29 pm Comments (4)

33 Weeks

Can’t believe we’re already at 33 weeks!  Starting with Carolyn’s next doctor appointment in two weeks, she’ll go weekly until the baby is born.  We’re getting close!

Published in: on April 21, 2009 at 7:57 pm Leave a Comment

Getting Close

Carolyn is now due in less than two months!

Published in: on April 10, 2009 at 12:08 pm Comments (3)

30 Weeks and Counting

Carolyn is at 30 weeks.  Hard to believe we’re three-quarters of the way there!

Published in: on April 1, 2009 at 4:53 pm Leave a Comment

Little Laura Marie’s Foot

For my latest painting I decided to paint my favorite picture from Laura Marie’s first sonogram.  Here’s her precious little foot after 19 weeks in the womb:

Published in: on March 22, 2009 at 6:16 pm Comments (2)

What’s Up

This past week and a half has been crazier than usual, revealing one of the disappointing ironies of blogging: the more you have to blog about, the less time you have to blog about it!  Here’s a smattering of what’s been up:

  • At CrossWay we began a new three-week series about the Bible called TXT.  It’s taking more studying and preparation than usual, because it requires more research in addition to Bible study.  The series addresses three questions about the Scriptures: (1) How did we get the Bible? (2) How do we know the Bible is true? (3) How do I study the Bible?
  • A couple Saturdays ago Carolyn and I made a day trip to Pennsylvania.  In one day I was deeply touched with the tremendous generosity of a bunch of people all at once: Julie, the woman who owns the house we rent, let us haul one of her twin beds up to Pennsylvania to store in the house of someone she doesn’t even know.  Our brother-in-law’s parents let us borrow their nice, big pickup to drive the bed up north.  Michael & Kristen let us put the bed in the guest room of their house… AND–they bought us a bed frame with a nice headboard!  Carolyn’s been wanting a headboard ever since we got married, because her pillows would fall behind the bed and we can’t sit up in bed without it scooting out from the wall.  They’re very expensive, and Michael & Kristen bought us one and gave it to us while we were up there with a pickup!  And if all that’s not enough, they took us out for a delicious dinner.  I had some of the best spaghetti & meatballs I’ve ever had, and it followed right after some tasty lobster bisque.
  • When we went to the Amish auction house to pick up the bed frame, I saw my first Amish midget.
  • On Wednesday I got to hang out with my friend Kevin.  We had a lot of catching up to do.  He’s recovering from surgery and is on a strict liquid diet, but fortunately Starbucks coffee is on the OK list.  So we hung out and talked for a couple hours while we put a dent in a big box of Sumatra.  By the way, his dog is a trip–she actually watches TV!  She’ll just sit there and watch and listen, and when she sees an animal on the screen, she jumps up and goes nuts.
  • The husband of one of our preschool teachers, Ms. Pat, passed away a week ago.  He’d been very sick for several years.  She’s one of the saintliest people I’ve ever known.  We’ve missed her around here!  She’ll be back tomorrow, which is good because the staff and children have really missed her.
  • On Saturday I did my first funeral.  I had no idea what I was doing, but if anyone had any complaints, they had the kindness to keep me out of the loop!  It was only the third time in the last five years I’ve worn a tie, and I’ve gotten so fat I had to run to the outlets on Friday to buy some new dress pants.
  • After church on Sunday, ten of us got together for lunch and then met with Jackie, the director of the Eastern Shore Pregnancy Center.  She told us about the ministry there, fielded some questions, and showed us around.  About 25 young women a year receive Christ through their ministry!  I love the way they help women to choose life for their unborn children, but they don’t stop there–they stay involved with the family and help them in very practical ways for a year and a half after the baby is born.  I can’t wait for us to get more involved with this ministry!  Please pray for them, because there is a lot of opposition (unbelievable as that is) to what they’re doing.
  • On Monday Carolyn had three doctor appointments.  First she had to go to a nearby lab, drink a bunch of stuff that was like flat orange soda, then have blood drawn to test for diabetes.  After that she met with her obstetrician, where she now goes every other week until the ninth month of pregnancy, when she’ll have weekly visits.  We met for lunch with her parents, her sister, and my dad, then we all headed over to her ultrasound, which was the third appointment of the day.  Afterward we shopped at Ollie’s, ate very quickly, and headed to a Worship Planning Team meeting.  Long (but enjoyable!) day!
  • Yesterday my mother-in-law, Linda, painted the baby’s room.  It’s a pink color that’s almost white.  I’m sure Laura Marie will love it!  (We tease Linda about having a case of Grandma Nesting.)
Published in: on March 18, 2009 at 5:22 am Comments (3)

3-D Laura Marie

Yesterday we went for a 3-D sonogram at RMS Sonography in Salisbury.  It was so cool to see the baby again!  Now she’s much bigger and has some fat on her, plus the 3-D shots made it possible to see her much better.  Carolyn says they make her look like a clay baby, and you’ll probably agree.  When we got home last night we watched the DVD of the sonogram they gave us.  It’s so awesome!  On the DVD you can see her yawning, moving her mouth like she’s talking, playing with her toes, punching Carolyn’s guts–even opening and closing her eyes!  Amazing stuff.

Here are a couple of the 3-D photos:

We’ll have one more sonogram (a regular one, not 3-D) before the baby is born.  The doctor orders this one to make sure that the baby is ready to come out into her new world!

Published in: on March 17, 2009 at 12:04 pm Comments (6)
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