Introducing ...

Maren Mae Platt, born at 10:56 am Wednesday, July 29th. Maren weighed 6 pounds 9 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long. She has a full head of dark hair that is ready for bows!Warner has enjoyed being the center of his grandparents' attention at home while Kevin and I are in the hospital. He met Maren yesterday but I'm not sure he understood what was going on. He gave her a kiss, tried to feed her jello, then moved on to exploring the hospital room.

We're still in the hospital but everything seems to be going well. Maren is eating and sleeping well and I'm feeling much better at day two after the c-section. We'll be home in a few days where I'm sure the real fun will begin.

One in a Thousand

Kevin and my family have always said that I'm special - one in a million even - but apparently I'm one in a thousand.  I've developed a very rare pregnancy complication called cholestasis that occurs in one to two out of every 1000 pregnancies.

I've been overly itchy for the past few weeks and mentioned this to my Dr. at my 36 week appointment last Thursday.  She sent me to the hospital to have blood work done to make sure everything was fine.  Three days of blood tests revealed my liver enzymes were very high - and getting higher each day, which lead to the cholestasis diagnosis.  Apparently pregnancy hormones have caused my gall bladder to not function properly, which then affects my liver, and unfortunately can be deadly for the baby.

So, we're having the baby tomorrow!  I'll be 37 weeks, which feels like no big deal compared to Warner being born at 34 weeks.  We'll be sure to post pictures soon!

Pink

The nursery is finally coming together. Kevin and my dad painted the baby's room a few weekends ago while I supervised - being pregnant does have a few perks. As you can see, it's very pink. I think I'm getting used to it, but I wasn't sure at first.My mom and I searched high and low for fabric that would incorporate the green rocking chair into a pink nursery. She ended up buying the bedding at Pottery Barn Kids (thanks, Mom!) because the "perfect" fabric simply did not exist. Although the greens don't exactly match, I think it works (please don't tell me if you disagree, I've been too stressed over this for too long. I'm just going with it).
Only 3 and 1/2 weeks until we meet our baby girl!

Ring Around the Rosy

We had dinner with our friends the Wamplers last night - their daughter Madison is a few months older than Warner. Each time the kids are together they seem to play better with each other. Kevin got pictures of them playing ring around the rosy:

Booster Seat

We moved Warner into a booster seat at the kitchen table for meals. Honestly I'm not sure why we did this but he seems to like the new arrangement just fine. I was getting into a nasty habit of feeding him meals while he sat on the kitchen counter or while he was on the go so at least we can start to work on table manners again.
Tonight I gave Warner a spoon and a fork to use at dinner. He used the spoon in his right hand for cottage cheese and the fork in his left hand for the rest (and held them both throughout the whole meal). Manners aside, at least he's using utensils now. We'll work on the rest later.

July 4th

We spent the 4th of July at the lake with my parents, grandparents, Aunt Kathy, Uncle Tim, and cousins Katie and Timothy. We kept busy boating, playing golf (I swear I'm playing better golf pregnant - go figure), swimming at the pool, eating, playing on the playground, and taking golf cart rides. We were worn out when we got home Tuesday!Warner "driving" the boat. With the exception of his life jacket he really seems to like the boat. He loved watching Timothy and his friend Dan learn to barefoot as well as my dad skiing and barefooting. I can't wait until Warner is old enough to learn to ski.Swimming with Dad in the lake.
Playing with Grandpa.The best family picture we could get. I look a little scary but my mom and I now have a rule that makeup is not allowed at the lake. It's wonderful.Fireworks for the 4th. Warner wasn't too sure about the sparklers at first ...... but after a few minutes he wanted us to keep lighting more for him.More fun in the golf cart. I'm really not sure what the appeal is with golf carts but Warner can't get enough of them.Dad and his Caddy.
Warner's new preferred way to ride in our golf cart.