First visit to the Pediatrician’s Office and first bath

Today was Carden Elizabeth’s first visit to the pediatrician’s office. She’s lost some weight since being in the hospital, but not enough to be concerned about. Her skin color looks great, so no signs of jaundice.

Last night we had our first bath at home, well sponge bath. It went a lot smoother than I expected. Carden fussed when we first got her completely naked, I think the initial shock of being cold is what startled her and then once we got the warm water on her skin she settled down. I’ve heard of so many babies that scream bloody murder when you wash their hair, but she actually seemed to enjoy it. I did tell her that people pay big bucks to have other people shampoo their hair so she is lucky that we are more than willing to do it for free! Of course we took lots of photos of the event and this has to be the cutest one so I just had to share!



We hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas and that Santa is good to everyone! He brought us the best gift anyone could ask for 5 days ago!

Carden Elizabeth Dilocker

Carden Elizabeth Dilocker was born on Friday, December 19th, 2008 at 5:16 PM at Crestwood Hospital in Huntsville, Alabama. She was 9 lbs 11 oz and 20 inches long! Baby Carden, mom, and dad are all happy and healthy.







Thanks Dr. Aguayo and the nursing staff at Crestwood's Maternity Center for a smooth and supportive delivery free of any complications. The team made us feel so relaxed and at ease during the 12 hour labor and throughout our weekend stay in the hospital.

Foods to Induce Labor, Scheduled Induction Date, and Baby Names

Last week Dr. Aguayo told Jason and I to be prepared that Baby D could arrive at any moment because I was already dilated to 2 cm, effaced, and she could feel the baby’s head (which makes me want to gag!) So we’ve had our hopes up since then that "today could be the day" and that I would try to help encourage her to make an early arrival by eating foods that you hear about that are supposed to help induce labor:
Pineapple
Bran Muffins
Balsamic Vinegar Salad Dressing
Spicy Foods
Egg Plant
Well in the past few days, I’ve consumed all of these things (not all in one setting), suffered some serious heart burn as a result and Baby D has yet to arrive. Even the full moon on Friday and my father driving over every pot hole, railroad track, and bump in the road after church on Sunday didn’t help out!

As much as I have loved being pregnant, the time has come where I cannot wait any longer. The anticipation is driving us crazy! Plus Dr. Aguayo and I agree that we both don’t feel like spending Christmas at the hospital so I am scheduled to be induced on Friday, December 19th, that is unless she decides to show up early. The only bad part of being induced is that I don’t get to send Jason into freak out mode by calling him at work and telling him that my water broke or I’m having contractions! Just the thought of all the stories I won’t be able to share about that experience kind of makes me sad.

Most popular question these days are what are you going to name the baby. Jason and I agreed that we didn’t want to name her until we saw her. We do have a middle name picked out, Elizabeth, after my maternal grandmother--Baby D’s only living great grandmother. As far as first names go, we have narrowed down our list to Gretchen (after one of Jason’s aunts) or Carden (my maiden name). She’ll probably come out not looking like either name, so then we’ll be back to square one and have to pull out all the baby name books and start over from scratch—or worse, Baby D will be a boy and we haven’t even talked about boy names!

Bags are packed, Philip Comes to Visit, and Maternity Photos

We are officially 3 weeks away from the due date of Baby D. That means in 21 days, we could be meeting our daughter—unless she decides to arrive early! Jason has been on my case the past few days to get my bags packed, so last night I packed my bag to take to the hospital! I am all set with socks and slippers, PJs, and some personal hygiene essentials—the rest will get packed once I go into labor. It just reinforces how little time we have left before she arrives.
The house is slowly progressing. A week ago I was less than thrilled with the progress; because there is nothing more frustrating than driving by your house on a beautiful sunny day and no one is there working. I understand that is it hard to get work done in bad weather, but on days when it is in the upper 60’s without a cloud in the sky. This week the construction team has managed to redeemed themselves—the brick masons worked on Thanksgiving morning (their choice, not mine so I took them a homemade pecan pie), the electrician and plumber worked on Friday (I’m sure just to avoid having to go shopping with wives, girlfriends, and/or significant others) and they even showed back up on Saturday and Sunday! I just wish the rest of the subs would follow in their footsteps! I’ve come to live with the fact that we will not be bringing Baby D home to a newly remodeled home, that she too will be living out of suit cases at her grandparent’s home for the first few weeks of her new life. I think that the grandparents to be are actually really looking forward to having the baby at their house. I know they will secretly miss us when we’re gone!
Philip came home over the Thanksgiving holiday. It was great to visit with him. At first he didn’t know what to think about me being pregnant, but towards the end of the visit he was ready for me to have the baby just so he could be apart of the action. He was able to feel her move on a couple of occasions. He’ll be back once she is born. Pearl, is suffering from Post-Phil Depression. If he gives the baby as much attention as he gave Pearl, this child will be totally over stimulated. We foresee a lot of time spent in time out for both Uncle Phil and Baby D when he comes to visit once she is a toddler.
Jason and I weren’t sure about having maternity photos taken, but finally decided that this is a time where we can get away with being cheesy so we hired a local photographer, Jillian Easley to do them for us. She will also take the newborn photos. She was a lot of fun to work with and know she’ll do a great job of photographing Baby D! Feel free to check out our proofs online by going to Jillian’s website Jilly Kay Photography and going to the "client" tab. On that page it will ask for your Username and Password.
Username: Dilocker
Password: trucker babe (be sure to include the space)
*Case sensitive.
The password is a result of a conversation held during the photo shoot—don’t ask.

The Nursery

While I feel blessed with the opportunity and means to improve our late1940s home, dealing with the contractors/labors, the dust and debris, communication issues and how things do not operate on my time frame makes me feel a little overwhelmed since I have no place to nest and get ready for Baby D’s arrival. Thank goodness mom and dad are being so gracious and putting up with the two of us, our dogs, and all our stuff. We’ve managed to take over a bedroom, the dining room, part of Philip’s room, and their attic. Everything else is in the garage at what’s left of our house and in the POD (which is in our front yard—classy I know!)

I have managed to pick out nursery fabric; I’m just not sure when the nursery will actually be ready! Here's looking into the room that will become the nursery:



We are not going with a theme, it just isn’t our style. My mom is going to make the bumper pad, crib skirt, and curtains and we have a wonderful family friend that is going to make baby quilt. The fabric is called Ginger Blossom by Sandi Henderson.

Papa Smurf and a very Pregnant Smurfette

Here are some photos of Jason, Papa Smurf, and me, Pregnant Smurfette, in our award winning Halloween Costumes! Our dear friend April Hill celebrated her 30th Birthday with a Spook-tacular Halloween Inspired Birthday Party.



Here we have Elvis (David Cox), Priscilla Presley (April Hill, Birthday Girl), Kid Rock (Michael Helms), Kat Von D (Angie Helms), Smurfette (Amy) and Papa Smurf (Jason).

Newest member of the Dilocker Family

Congratulations to Jason’s cousin, Daniel, his wife Jessie and big sister Emma on the arrival of Benjamin Gregory Dilocker! Benjamin was born on Monday, October 20, 2008 at 9:35 am. He was 20 inches long and 7 pounds 3 ounces. Now the pressure is off us to carry on the Dilocker name! We are so excited for them and can’t wait to meet Benjamin (and see the rest of the family.)

Childbirth Class

So Jason and I survived childbirth class. The first class, was all about natural childbirth and showed plenty of videos of women crazy enough to give natural childbirth. After just one video I was convinced that I did’t want to be pregnant any longer and I there would be no way that I would be able to to give birth to Baby D! Jason said the noises that the women made not only scared grown men, but animals! I don’t know who was more afraid, me or him. Jason thinks all teenage boys should have to watch the videos we did and that would keep them from ever wanting to have sex! I told the guy at the hair salon about it and he thinks we would have an increase in the number of gay men as a result. The videos didn’t faze the guy in the class that already has two kids with other women. He was also the only one managed to eat during the videos.
So part of natural childbirth it to learn various coping strategies/stress relieving techniques. A few of them require that you lay down on the floor. I'm thinking, this is going to be interesting watching 10 huge pregnant women get down onto the floor and then back up once we are done. New Age music is playing softly in the back ground, you and your “partner” are spooning each other with your eyes closed while the childbirth educator is asking you to visualize that you are laying a field with the warm sun beaming down on you, your uterus is contracting while your cervix is getting thinner--I'm sure this is just what every guy in the room wants to be visualizing. While she continues to read, Jason whispers to me, “Is that your feet that I’m rubbing?” I respond, “Uh, No” as I start to bite my lip because I know I’m about to lose control and bust out laughing since its not my feet that he’s been playing footsie with. I can hear the panic in Jason’s voice as he tells me, “Oh my God, I was rubbing that guy’s head with my feet!” My entire body starts convulsing, tears streaming out of the corners of my eyes as I try to contain my laughter and not interrupt the class while they are trying to visualize their uterus contracting out of fear that we will be kicked out of childbirth class. Obviously we weren’t the only ones not being very good students, because someone started snoring half way through the exercise. You’ve never seen a pregnant woman hop up off the floor so fast to b-line for a bathroom!
The second class was much better--it showed women giving birth that were smart enough to use drugs! My mind is made up--give me the epidural!

4D Ultrasound

Here are some of the better photos that were taken at our 4D Ultrasound this morning. Baby D wasn’t interested in having her photo taken--majority of the time she kept her hands and feet up near her face. We were happy with the few shots we were able to get of her chubby cheeks. Only 12 weeks to go before we get to see her in person!

Major Life Events

It is a fact that certain life events can result in increased stress, can severely impact your health and overall happiness. I’m sure that some psychologist would love to ask us what in the world are you two thinking—having a baby, changing jobs, and remodeling a house all at once! How much more stress could one couple possibly take on? Our philosophy--why not do as much as you can at once, so you can get it over with! We are handling all this change surprisingly well. I'm sure this would push a Type A personality over the edge!

Baby
Had a follow up ultrasound on Friday, 19 Sept 08 to verify that Baby D is a girl since she wasn’t very cooperative the first time. We were able to see what we needed, so now I don’t need to worry about returning any of the pink stuff that I’ve already purchased! I’m scheduled for a 4D on Thursday morning. Hopefully we’ll be able to get some good pictures to share!

Changing Jobs
Jason started his new job today working on a research team for the new Hudson-Alpha Institute here in Huntsville. The building alone is impressive, not to mention the work that goes on inside it. He’ll be working on a research team that is headed up by Rick Myers, PhD, who came to Huntsville from Stanford to work on human genetics and genomics. According to Jason, he is "the man" when it comes to genomics and the human genome project. He is looking forward to this new and exciting opportunity. Its way too scientific for me, I’m just happy that he’ll be doing something that he loves and will be a great benefit to society.

Remodeling a House
We’ve been talking about remodeling our house ever since we moved in back in 2005. We absolutely love our neighborhood and can’t imagine moving anywhere else in town. We started working with an architect months ago on the plans and we finally have the final drawings! There has been lots of drama--architect dislocating a finger on his drawing hand, builders not returning phone calls when getting quotes, builders going on vacation, and getting a variance from the City’s Planning and Zoning Board—but we are one step closer to getting started.
Two Saturdays ago, we became the eye sore of the neighborhood by putting a POD in our yard. Jason assisted by our dear friend Tim and his teenage son, Corey, spent a Sunday afternoon loading it with some of our belongings so we can get ready for the construction crew to get started. Lucky for us, our neighbors are all wonderful and we can leave the POD in the yard until we move back into the house in December.
We have temporarily moved in with my parents who live 3.7 miles away. The builder told us if we could move out, he would be able to get the work done quicker since he wouldn’t have to work around us and have the remodel complete by the time Baby D arrives. Keep your fingers crossed! I'll post before and after photos once construction is complete.

Pink or Blue?!?

On Friday we learned that Baby D is a girl! We’ll we are about 90% sure that Baby D is a girl. She was being shy and had her legs crossed and pulled up so it was difficult to tell, but she did make a quick turn and Dr. Aguayo said she was able to see the necessary parts that indicate a girl. All we really care about is having a healthy baby, but I am excited that we'll be having a little girl! We will do another ultrasound to double check at my next visit in four weeks. I’m not sure if I can wait that long, so I’m going to call around to some of the imaging centers about having a 4D ultrasound done just to double check.

Dr. Aguayo said that she looks great! This ultrasound was amazing--we were able to see the chambers of the heart working, her bones, her fingers moving, etc... Jason and I were speechless (hard to believe I know!) Baby D currently weighs 1 lbs 3 oz so we may be a little head of schedule which means our due date may move up to December 18th instead of the 23rd.

Jason is already starting to worry about raising a daughter and having to deal with boys! Lucky for us, a lot of our friends that have daughters and will have to deal with this before we do, so we'll have lots of friends to turn to for advice!

Here are two photos from the ultrasound--you can kind of make out where her legs are crossed and pulled up.

Baby Bohan is here early!

Congratulations to Patty and Brad Bohan on becoming parents 7 weeks early! Emerson Elizabeth Bohan arrive Saturday, August 16, 2008 at 1:53 a.m. She weighed 3 lbs. 6 oz. and was 16 in. long. Though she was over 7 weeks early she doesn’t require any assistance to breath.

On the Move

Well Baby D and I are on totally different sleep cycles, Baby D is very active when I’m trying to get settled down for bed or sleeping. We had a first on Saturday—Jason was able to feel Baby D move for the first time at 5 AM! For those of you who have lived with me or just know me really well, I’m not a morning person, so waking up to my husband rubbing all over my belly at 5 AM is not that amusing. I know he was just excited and I was as supportive as I could be at 5 AM!
All continues to go well with the pregnancy. We are scheduled to find out the sex of Baby D on Friday, 22 August 08 at 10 AM! So there is still time to place your bets on the sex of the baby.
We enjoyed a long lunch with friends at Cantina Laredo today. Major Brady and Terri Traum that recently returned to Huntsville after being gone due to military assignments in South Korea and Kansas, so it was great to catch up after almost two years. I’m sure the restaurant was more than ready to see us leave after sitting there for 3 hours. Brady leaves for Iraqi or Afghanistan in the next month so he and Terri and busy trying to get settled into their new home in Huntsville. We are glad to have our friends back in town, but hate that Brady will be deployed so soon!

Baby Stine has arrived!

Congratulations to Mark and Julie Stine on the arrival of Bram Oakley Stine. Bram was born on August 2, 2008 at 12:50PM. He weighs 7 lbs. 11 ounces and is 22 inches long.

Love thy Neighbor

I know this is one of the commandments in life that we are supposed to live by, but my neighbor has made this very difficult for me. Our neighbors are quirky but this keeps things interesting. He is a typical type A engineer. He spends all weekend in his yard ensuring that every blade of grass is exactly the same height. Once this is done, he suits up in his eye and ear protection and then straps the jet engine propelled leaf blower to his back to ensure there isn’t a single grass clipping on his sidewalk. And if you are outside doing any type of yard work, you can guarantee that he’ll be out there in 5 minutes to see what’s going on and to start piddling around. He was a huge help when we decided to put down sod in 100 degree heat and to replace all our plumbing—he’s always willing to pitch in just to have something to do.
We’ll they recently sold their house and are in the process of moving. Hate to see them go because they have been really good neighbors and there is no telling what the new neighbors will be like. We get a knock on the door the other day not 10 minutes after the U-Haul pulled away and there stands our neighbor. He forgot something at the house and had to come back and in the process ripped the bumper off my car with the U-Haul truck! I had a fender bender over the Christmas holiday (my fault, I'll admit it) and had to replace the fender, bumper and the light fixture and now he has managed to do $849.36 worth of damage to my beloved car where I just had it fixed a few months ago! At least this time I don’t have to file it under my insurance and pay a deductible.
Now we have to wait and see what the new neighbors will be like! Stay tuned!

Annabelle Lynn Smith has arrived!

Congratulations to Kathi and Rob Smith on the birth of their daughter, Annabelle Lynn. She was born on Thursday, 10 July 2008 at 4:49pm. She weighs 7 pounds 12 ounces and is 19 1/2 inches long.

New Babies!

Congratulations to Courtney and Matt Atnip on the arrival of Elizabeth Sadie "Lizzie" who was born on Tuesday, July 1st at 10:40 am by c-section and weighed 5 lbs 8 oz. Be sure to check out all their adventures on her blog!

We are anticipating the arrival of Annabelle Lynn at any moment to Kathi & Rob Smith! She went to the hospital early this morning to be induced. Baby Carter is scheduled to arrive next week to Allison & Justin Carter!

This fall/winter will be exciting with arrival of babies to Scooter & Katherine, Stine & Julie, Lacey & Chad Looser, Patti & Brad Bohan, Karen Bertiger & Tom Diggers, and Stuart & Rupi Robinson. (Sorry if I left anyone out!)

Congratulations to all the new parents and parents to be!

Old Wives' Tales

Went to the OB/GYN on 27 June 08 and this time Jason went with me just so he could hear the heartbeat. He missed out the last time and wasn’t going to miss out again! According to old wives' tales, if your baby's heart rate is high, above 140 beats per minute, that means you're carrying a girl. A lower heart rate below 140 bpm means you're having a boy. The first time we heard the heartbeat is was in the 170 range and today is was in the 150s—so the signs point to a girl. But if we listen to the one about the Dad gaining weight then you’re having a boy and if he’s not you’re having a girl—then we are having a boy! And no, we are not having fraternal twins. I’m just at the point where I am ready to know the sex of Baby Dilocker so we can start doing fun stuff like decorating the nursery!
I’ve developed a new pregnancy related symptom—heart burn. This just started, but nothing that Tums can’t take care of. I can’t complain since I was lucky enough to make it into my second trimester with no morning sickness!

Are you pregnant yet? When are you going to have a baby?

These are the two most frequently asked questions that I've been asked ever since Jason and I got married back in 2001! Finally, I can finally say "Yes, I'm pregnant" (and it only took 4 at home pregnancy tests and a visit to my MD for it to really sink in since we've been trying for so long!) and Baby Dilocker is due on December 23, 2008!

I had an ultrasound at 6.5 weeks and we were able to see the heart beat. Jason and my mom went with me--it was very emotional and we all cried. Last week I was able to hear the heart beat for the very first time!

Here are the first photos of Baby Dilocker!

After 11 weeks, it is still hard to believe that I'm pregnant because I'm virtually symptom free--except being completely exhausted. Who knew that something so small could completely drain you of all your energy?!?

Stay tuned for updates!