Matthew is One Month Old!

It's hard to believe its been a month already. Or we can't believe Matthew has only been with us for a month. Sometimes it's hard to tell which.

As many of you may know, when Matthew was 9 days old we had newborn photos taken. Despite Matthew being very upset during the entire photo shoot, crying most of the time and covering his father in poop and pee multiple times, some of the photos turned out wonderfully.

Here is Matthew at two weeks old.

Matthew enjoyed celebrating the 4th of July- he was quite the firecracker!

Matthew also had his first playdate with a girl.

Oscar still isn't sure what the big fuss is about.

Matthew rolled over from his stomach to his back. It wasn't all at once- more like he rolled to his side, took a break and then rolled the rest of the way. Susan didn't record the first one, but did record the second attempt.

(To be fair, he did not roll completely on his back this time, but is the only video we have right now).

The night before he turned one month old, Matthew had his first bottle. He drank like a champ and downed it in no time.

He was very proud of himself.

He still wants to attend Texas and gave us a Hook 'Em.

He had a little photo shoot for his birthday with his Bevo.

He can't wait until he is two months old!

More next time... stay tuned.

Three weeks already?

We can't believe Matthew has been in our lives for three weeks. They have been a blur. David stayed home the first week, but Susan and Matthew have been alone during the day the last two weeks. It's mostly been pooping, peeing, eating and some sleeping (for Matthew) and not much sleeping for Susan and David. Matthew takes after his mother and is very particular. If he has a wet diaper he will stop eating- so we have gone through lots of diapers (I think our current record is 5 diapers in less than an hour). Sometimes we change him and he goes again before we can even get him feeding again.

So there isn't much to tell other than Matthew has been great and we love him soooooo much. We already can't imagine life without him.

Also, since we know you are wondering- Charlie and Oscar have gotten along very well with Matthew.

Here are some pictures of the last few weeks:
Matthew has the most beautiful yawns!

He sleeps like his daddy.

He enjoys being swaddled (most of the time).

This was the first family outing. We went to the pediatrician for Matthew's newborn visit. We then went to Babies-R-Us to buy more sleep sacks (at first we thought they were silly, but they are really useful for changing diapers in the middle of the night).

Matthew's first bath at home.

He is such a peaceful child and never gets upset.

Here he is resting on his blanket.

He wanted to see if Mommy's fingers give him milk, too.

When Matthew is awake he is very alert and seems to really pay attention to his surroundings. Here David is giving him life lessons and he is is hanging on every word.

Matthew and Daddy have lots of talks. Matthew is a very good listener.

Mommy has a Moby wrap she uses sometimes to carry him around the house.

A newborn's nails grow very quickly and here is Matthew getting his first manicure.

He looks really sweet when he sleeps.

He's already decided where he wants to go to college with no pressure from Mommy or Daddy (we swear).

Here he is posing on his glider.


Here he is with Bevo (you can tell he really enjoys pictures).

Wrapped up in a longhorn towel after a bath.

Dinosaur pajamas, but not ready for bed.

Mommy can't believe he fit inside of her belly, so she checked to make sure.

Here he is saluting to his Mommy.

He has beautiful feet.

Matthew is not impressed with our photography.

Here he is at three weeks old.


We will try to post more frequently, but everyone with children will understand that we make no promises.

The Big Event

This post has been a long time coming. Over 16 years in fact. Neither Susan nor David imaged their first meeting 16 years ago would lead to this miracle.

The last three weeks have been amazing. Who knew having a baby took up so much of your life? Sorry it took so long to post the story of Matthew's arrival, but here goes...

On Monday, June 14th, we had an appointment with our OB. Matthew was doing great. The plan was to induce on Friday, but Susan couldn’t decide if we should instead just wait for Matthew to tell us he was ready. After much discussion we decided to go ahead with the planned induction, pending the results of the sonogram scheduled for Thursday, June 17^th. We made it through the rest of the week without much trouble (except for the home telephone/internet-but that’s another story). We were very excited on Thursday. We had a sonogram scheduled, and were to report to the hospital on Thursday evening to begin the induction. The sonogram went fine, and Matthew measured at 7 pounds 10 ounces. We both thought the sonographer measured him a little small. After leaving the appointment, Susan decided Matthew needed more clothes (he doesn’t- see the earlier blog posting. Thursday early evening Susan and I went for our last meal together before becoming parents. Susan decided on Mexican food to get things started. Well, evidently it worked. On the way to the hospital, we stopped to see her dad (who is in rehabilitation after breaking his pelvis). While there, Susan felt a contraction! It was time to go! We arrived at the hospital shortly before 9:00 p.m. (we had to make sure we beat the other couple our doctor scheduled for induction that evening as well).

Susan was excited (and had no idea what she was in for!).

So, we walked up to the check-in desk and David announced, "We'd like to have a baby"! (David soon realized the process was a little more involved than that). After check-in, we were taken to our room for Susan to relax.

Susan was hooked up to the fetal monitor at 10:00 p.m., and immediately showed she was having contractions every 5-7 minutes. She was 2 centimeters and 80% at the time and was given Cirvidil to loosen up the cervix. She was unable to sleep all night due to the discomfort from contractions, but refused any pain medications. (David make it through the night with no pain meds as well.) The next morning we were scheduled to go to labor and delivery at 7:00 a.m., but were pushed back to 8:00 a.m. because they were so busy.

At 8:15 a.m., Dr. Hagood stopped by to see how Susan was doing. Susan was 3-4 centimeters and 90% effaced. Dr. Hagood told us we would go to labor and delivery, but would hold off on pitocin since Susan was having contractions every 1-2 minutes. So, off to labor and delivery we went!

Susan was in pain from the contractions and concerned that she would progress too quickly to be given an epidural.

Fortunately for her, once we got situated in L&D Room 9 our wonderful nurse Jennifer contacted the anesthesiologist for the epidural. David waited outside while the procedure was performed, and once it was completed Susan was a new woman! She still felt the contractions but they were no longer painful.


Susan thinks "epidurals are great! Everyone should have one!"

After the epidural Susan was able to relax. Many of our family and friends were in the waiting room and were able to visit with us. Dr. Hagood came back to check on Susan a little later and she had progressed to 7 centimeters! Dr. Hagood broke Susan’s water and told us she would be back to check on us a little before lunch, and that everything was going great. To help Susan relax we played some Yanni (over and over and over). To ensure the entire experience was documented, David took pictures of everything (we won't bore you with those). Susan tried to sleep, but couldn’t. We were both excited and couldn’t wait for Matthew to arrive.

Dr. Hagood was supposed to check on us before lunch, but was very busy and was not able to come back until 1:45 p.m. She told us she had two other patients in labor, and was about to perform a C-section on a woman with twins. She checked Susan’s progress, and to our surprise she was 10 centimeters and +3 (meaning his head was almost out). Dr. Hagood told Susan to lie still in bed, not to sneeze or laugh, and not to practice pushing! As soon as she finished the C-section on the other patient she would be back and it would be time to deliver Matthew. David alerted all the waiting family and friends, and the countdown was on! Dr. Hagood came back at 2:45 p.m. and we were ready to go. Susan did amazing while pushing and every minute was one closer to Matthew’s arrival. Susan enjoyed the epidural so much she was able to laugh between pushes.

After 40 minutes of pushing, Matthew arrived at 3:36 p.m. He weighed 7 pounds 7 ounces. He was 20 inches long with a 13 inch chest and (not surprisingly) his head was 14 inches (90% percentile). Matthew was beautiful and doing great! Susan and David were able to bond with him in the delivery room and Susan even tried breastfeeding.

(Before cleaning)

(After cleaning- much improved!!)


While David, Susan and Matthew were getting to know each other, our family and friends in the waiting room were getting very anxious and anything but patient. In fact, they had to be restrained by hospital security.)

After a little time together, Matthew was ready to meet the rest of his family and friends!

After a little time in L&D with family and friends, we were taken up to our room. We stayed in the hospital until Sunday at noon, and the entire stay flew by. We were lucky to be visited by many of our family and friends and enjoyed sharing Matthew's birth with everyone. Neither Susan nor David got much sleep during the hospitalization (a sign of things to come).

We are also helped by the wonderful newborn nursing staff, who took great care of Matthew and helped Susan with breastfeeding. We recommend Presbyterian Dallas to anyone having a baby!

Here are a few pictures of us while in the hospital:

Matthew getting burped.

Daddy and Matthew taking it easy on Sunday morning.

Matthew enjoying his fancy hospital bassinet and doggie swaddling blanket.
Mommy checking out her new baby.

Finally, on Sunday morning we were ready to go home. As you might expect, Susan picked out the perfect outfit for Matthew to come home in (but it was a little big).

Matthew's first time in his new bed.

After coming home, we were visited by even more of our family and friends. Since Matthew is so cute, everyone wants to hold and love him, and nobody feels like they have enough time with him (we understand- we feel the same way!)
Caroline was really excited to meet Matthew and enjoyed holding him.

As you saw on the earlier posts, Matthew has a lot of clothes. One outfit matches his Mommy!

So, that's the story of Matthew's arrival. Stay tuned for updates of his first three weeks home.