The Dilocker's

UAB visit and Update on Baby D #2

2010-09-12T21:25:00.016-05:00

We took Carden down to UAB on Tuesday, 7 Sept 2010 to see Dr. Cogen. She will have to have eye surgery since her right eye turning in is the result of a muscle and focusing problem. Surgery gives her the best option to have normal vision in the right eye. She will still need to wear glasses to correct the focus, but may eventually grow out of them. I’ve been hoping and praying that he would say that all we needed to do was keep her in glasses, but know that she is in good hands. One of the girls in her daycare had the same surgery by the same doctor and you can’t even tell that she ever had any eye problems. It has been nice having another mother to talk with about my concerns and fears. I so appreciate her sharing with me. We have to patch Carden’s “good eye” for a few hours a day to help strengthen the “bad eye” before surgery. Sunday was our first attempt at patching and to our surprise; she did really well with it. She only cried when we first put the patch on and then when we tried to remove it. Deep down I think Jason and I were afraid that she wouldn’t be able to see so it was much more stressful for us.

Jason and I celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary on September 1. We took a trip over to the Shoals Marriott in Florence over Labor Day Weekend and it was so nice to get away by ourselves and just relax. We were able to catch up on some much needed rest.

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Baby D #2. We’ve narrowed down our list of names to three names—Campbell Ellis, Grayson Ellis, or Harper Ellis. We will wait until we see her before actually naming her, similar to what we did with Carden Elizabeth. We both agree on the middle name, Ellis, but have our preferences for first names. The hardest part of this pregnancy has been trying to figure out names! We would have been all set if we were having a boy! I just can’t wait to see what she looks like. I think the girls will look exactly alike or completely different. Dr. Aguayo is going to perform an ultrasound at 38 weeks to see if we can get an idea on the size of Baby D #2. If she looks like she is going to be big, we’ll induce sometime during the first weekend in October instead of waiting until my due date of the 15th. We made an attempt at maternity photos but Miss Carden was not interested in participating, so we didn't get any great ones of the three of us. She had more fun picking flowers and running around in the grass barefoot--guess we should have stayed inside for the pictures! We have not done a very good job of taking photos to document this pregnancy, so it was important to get a few decent belly shots towards the end of the pregnancy. Maybe Carden will cooperate more when we do new family photos once Baby D #2 arrives.

World's Worst Blogger

2010-08-12T13:56:00.018-05:00

So I am the world’s worst blogger. I can’t seem to find the time to update this thing about what is going on in the Dilocker Household. It's just been too hot to do anything, including update the blog. Sounds like a pretty good excuse to me!

Jason is going to be out numbered in our house. We are having another daughter and we couldn't’t be more excited. He is such a loving daddy to Carden that it is only fitting that he’ll have another precious daughter to love.
Now starts the ordeal of trying to pick out a name. We didn’t name Carden until we saw her, but I would like to go ahead this time so we have time to get things monogrammed. We are open to suggestions!

After talking to friends that have children that are the same sex/closeness in age, we've decided that the girls will share a bedroom once the baby moves out of the bassinet in our room Jason was concerned that Baby D #2 would be cheated by not having her own nursery, but I just love how Carden’s room turned out. It is my favorite room in the house and can easily turn into a big girl room since we didn’t go with a theme and used fun fabrics for the bedding and window treatment.Now the hunt begins for two antique twin beds and seeing if Michelle will be kind enough to make another quilt for Baby #2.

We FINALLY became members of the Blossomwood Pool at the start of the summer after being on the waiting list for a year and half and it is so worth it! Going to the pool is a great way to stay cool while being pregnant during the hot Alabama summer. Carden absolutely loves the water and is now starting to put her face in on her own to blow bubbles—hopefully it will pay off that both her parents were lifeguards and she’ll be a good swimmer. I love that you can have pizza delivered to the pool, makes my life easier by not having to worry about rushing home to make dinner.

Carden continues to do well wearing her glasses. Her Ophthalmologist is pleased with how well the lens is helping to keep her eye straight. One of the little girls in Carden’s class had eye surgery a few months ago with the same Ophthalmologist that we are scheduled to see at UAB in September so talking with her has helped ease my concerns if we must have surgery.
Congratulations to Joe and Amanda Wallace on the birth of Joe “Cooper” Wallace IV, the Franklin Family on the birth of Elizabeth “Libby” Leyden Franklin, and the Carter Family on the birth of Cooper Jay Carter.

Once we found out I was pregnant with Baby #2 we started talking about getting a newer car since my 2000 Volvo S70 was getting up there in miles and starting to have minor issues that slowly add up in cost that make you question if the repairs are costing more that the car is worth. We debated back and forth as to if we needed another sedan or if we needed something with a third row. Jason tried his hardest to sell me on a mini van, but I just couldn't bring myself to get one. All we knew was that the S70 wasn't big enough to haul around two babies in car seats and all their stuff. When we finally decided that we were going to hold off on our search for a new car, the local Volvo dealer got in two XC70 wagons at prices that were too good to pass up on. The Volvo wagon has always been my mommy dream car! Thanks to my sweet husband for taking care of all the details to make this our new family car--I love it!

My last post was in January and it is already May!

2010-05-24T21:09:00.027-05:00

My last post was in January and it is already May! Where has the time gone? Wait I know, chasing Carden Elizabeth around trying to keep her little hands out of trouble! Here’s a recap of the past few months:

•Valentine’s Weekend we found out that we were expecting Baby D #2 in October. We were thrilled and shocked by the news that I was pregnant, especially since it took so long for us to get pregnant with CE. The kids will be 22 months apart. We have no plans to take on any major renovation projects during this pregnancy!

•In February, CE was diagnosed with esotropia, where her right eye turns inward making her cross eyed. As a result she now wears the cutest little wire framed glasses to help strengthen the eye muscle. We will follow up with a specialist in September at the Callahan Eye Foundation Hospital at UAB in Birmingham to determine if surgery will be a better option than having her continue to wear the glasses. At her recent follow up appointment our Pediatric Ophthalmologist could see an improvement in her eye from just the few short weeks of her wearing the glasses, so we are hopefully that surgery will not be needed.

•In April, we managed to take a short, much needed family vacation to Orange Beach. It was CE’s first beach trip and at first she wasn’t a fan. She trembled with fear when we put her down on the sand the first few times. It took her about two hours of playing on the blanket under the umbrella before she was even remotely interested in playing in the sand and it took a lot of encouragement from mommy and daddy. We had a great time—the weather was perfect, the seafood was amazing, and we were able to get plenty of much needed rest and relaxation.

•CE has now moved up to the Toddler Room at Miss Marcia’s so that means we have to get to know all new teachers and kids. I know she is going to do great! The kids just seem so much older and bigger than her—I just don’t want her to get hurt.

•Huntsville is experiencing a Baby Boom! We recently welcomed two new friends into our life—Julia Grace Moran and Hannah Ryan Pillsbury. Both are absolutely beautiful and we couldn’t be happier for their parents. Now we are waiting on the arrivals of Baby Cater, Baby Wallace, and Baby Franklin (in Nashville).

•We love watching CE learn and grow. She has mastered her animal sounds and we continue to work on colors and everyday words such as please and thank you. And boy is she curious. She is into everything, cabinets, drawers, unrolling the toilet paper off the roll, and chasing Pearl around the house. We can’t turn out back on her for more than a minute.

Year Old!

2010-01-10T12:19:00.020-06:00

I’ve always heard people say that children grow up so fast and never paid much attention to it—not until I had a child of mine own and realized that just how fast a year goes by. So much has changed within our lives as parents as we try to adapt to all of Carden’s changes. She is no longer a baby, but is rapidly turning into a toddler. She is teaching us what it means to have patience, curiosity about new things, and unconditional love—all things that I think all too often we over look because we just don’t take the time out of hectic and busy lives to enjoy.
Carden had a wonderful 1st Birthday Party that was celebrated with various friends and family. Thanks to everyone that came out for her big day!

11 Months!

2009-12-07T20:38:00.009-06:00

I started this posting with good intentions of getting it posted to the blog weeks ago. Instead of re-writing it, I’m going to just post what I originally started.
Carden is getting more independent by the day. Gone are the days where she will sit calmly next to Matilda for her monthly photo. She is too busy exploring to let me take a photo of her.

Just one more month to go until Carden Elizabeth turns ONE! I just ordered her birthday outfit—it was so hard to decide on something, there are so many cute things, but the prices are outrageous. The best thing about this one is that it is reversible, so she’ll get to wear it more than once! Since the outfit has a cupcake on it, I’m using this as the “theme” for the party. I ordered these invitations from a local party store.

Carden had her first trip to the Huntsville Botanical Garden’s Galaxy of Lights. She slept through majority of it, but did wake up in time to visit with Santa. Speaking of Santa, I booked Santa photos back in May at Heather Bookout Photography! I’m so glad I did. Carden’s pictures are incredible. It was so hard to narrow them down. How many photos do you really need of your child with Santa—we narrowed it down to 5 different poses. People tell me that after the first year you won’t be so emotional when trying to pick out photos and if you have a second child, you’ll be lucky if they ever get a picture taken—my problem won’t be getting the picture taken, it will be narrowing it down to place a reasonable order. This is coming from the person that still, after 8 years of marriage, has not ordered wedding photos! I’m happy with all the 4x6 proofs!

Trick or Treat

2009-11-16T21:23:00.005-06:00

Our Little Lady Bug on her first Halloween!

Happy Fall Ya'll

2009-11-16T21:13:00.009-06:00

Here are some fall photos of Carden. She is getting so big and so independent. I'm trying to take full advantage of any time that she is willing to snuggle, which isn't much these days! It is really starting to hit me that she will be turning 1 soon. Where has this year gone?

10 Months!

2009-10-21T18:50:00.024-05:00

Carden Elizabeth is starting her 10th month of life with Hand, Foot, and Mouth! What fun! Plus her top two front teeth are coming in. Everyday it is something new. She continues to love to play Peek A Boo, clapping when we say Yea and playing Patty Cake. She constantly babbles. Her vocabulary consists of DaDa, AHHHH (at three volumes--soft, normal range, and a high pitched squeal that could break glass), Buh Buh (for Bye Bye), and Uh Oh. On rare occasions we get MMMMMAH. We are working on giving kisses and sugar—it is usually given to one of her stuffed animals.

She's also picked up this trick:

We recently left Carden for the first time with a babysitter that wasn’t a family member and I did very well--thank you very much! Mallory, one of the young ladies that use to keep Carden at Miss Marcia’s came over to watch her while Jason and I got in touch with our hippie roots and went to the Allman Brothers and Widespread Panic show in Birmingham. The show was awesome and we got a number of good laughs people watching! It was a much needed night out! We need to make more time for just mommy and daddy!

This is the big rivalry week-- UT v. Bama. Carden has so many cute UT outfits but hasn't been able to show them off since she isn't allowed at Miss Marcia's due to the Hand, Foot, and Mouth! Guess we'll have to do wardrobe changes during the game! Hopefully we'll be able to wear one of them on Monday as a result of a UT Victory. I’ve tried to teach CE to raise her arms straight up when I say Touchdown Tennessee—unfortunately Tennessee isn’t scoring that many touchdowns so we aren’t getting much practice, maybe we'll get the chance to work on it some more on Saturday!

We are enjoying the cooler fall weather--makes going on walks and sitting on the screen porch much more enjoyable!

We are looking forward to November because Uncle Phil will be coming home for Thanksgiving and we will be awaiting the arrival of a new cousin, Madeline Kelley. Madeline will even out the great-grandchildren to 3 girls and 3 boys!

Babyzilla

2009-09-28T17:58:00.003-05:00

Bath Time

2009-09-28T17:52:00.003-05:00

9 Month Update

2009-09-24T09:32:00.009-05:00

9 Months! I’ll be planning Carden Elizabeth’s 1 year birthday before I know it. Recently I had a freak out moment about being a working mother and what do you do when you baby is in 1st grade and gets out for three weeks at Christmas. What do you do? Luckily my parents live locally, so they can help out but what do people do that don’t have any relatives that live near by? Can you sign up for day care to watch them just on holiday breaks? Do moms have to take a leave of absence from their jobs? Thankfully I don’t have to answer these questions next week—right now I just have to make sure I have enough vacation time to cover the times that Miss Marcia’s will be closed over the upcoming holidays.

Carden is on the verge of crawling! She gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth. We’ve had a couple of nose dives into the floor but nothing that has left any bumps or bruises.

Bath time continues to be one of her favorite activities. I’ve heard so many horror stories about babies being terrified of the bath--we’ve had a couple of melt downs when we’ve pulled her out of the bath. I’m thankful that we aren’t trying to wash her hair while she is screaming mad.

We are heading up to Knoxville for the UT v. Auburn Game. We are looking forward to catching up with old friends. I’ve ordered Carden a cute UT Dress from the Etsy website to wear on game day.

8 Months and a Girls' Trip to the Beach

2009-09-03T10:22:00.015-05:00

Carden Elizabeth turned 8 Months Old on August 19th and her slacker mother is very late with the posting—time just escapes me! She has moved up from the infant room at Miss Marcia’s into the Creeper Room. She is adjusting very well to being with older babies; it is taking me a little longer to make the adjustment. I’m just not ready for her grow up so quickly. I’m just glad that her friend Mollie moved up with her, so Carden Elizabeth isn’t the youngest one in the class. She is starting to learn things from some of the older babies—like how to squeal at the top of her lungs, make all kinds of grunting/growling sounds, and blow bubbles with her mouth—I’m thinking the little boys are responsible for teaching her this un-lady behavior. She has mastered saying DaDa and we occasionally get an MMMMMM out of her but usually it is when she is upset. She is good about letting you know who she wants to hold her by reaching out to that person and I’m happy to say it is usually for me! That’s payback for her first word being DaDa! We’ve been working on Bye Bye and waving our hand. Can’t say Bye Bye, but is starting to imitate us when we wave.

Carden and Daddy bonded while I took off for a 4 day girl’s trip to Orange Beach. This was the longest I’ve been away from Carden and I did surprisingly well (thanks to the cocktails!) We couldn’t have asked for more perfect weather—the condo on the other hand was another story. If you are ever in the Orange Beach area, you must go to the Flora-Bama. It is a bar but it looks more like a shanty town on the Florida-Alabama State line. Go with an open mind, don’t over dress because you’ll stand out, and be sure to drink a Bushwacker! The Flora-Bama also has an interesting bra collection, which none of us added to.
It was so nice to get away from all the stresses of work and just enjoy some down time with the girls!

Girls Weekend

2009-08-16T16:14:00.017-05:00

Carden and I had our first Girls Weekend while Jason went off with our friend David for 3 days of camping, canoeing, and fly fishing. It was nice and relaxing to just be able to hang out and not have a list of things to do. Carden and I had a slumber party every night--she got to sleep in bed with mommy! We spent time visiting and catching up with Allison Gregg on Friday night and then met up with Jessica Berkholtz for a leisurely lunch on Saturday.

Once Daddy got home on Sunday, we had some fun in the sun. Carden loves bath time, so I bought her a plastic pool on Saturday. We were only outside for 10-15 minutes due to the heat and my fear of her getting sun burnt (something I know about all too well.) I had her lathered up in 2 or 3 coats of sunblock from head to toe! She loved splashing around. We are #72 on the Blossomwood Pool Waiting List so hopefully we'll be able to get in by next summer so she can enjoy the big pool! Guess I better start really getting serious about working out if I am to be in a bathing suit in front of my neighbors.

7 Months! (Better late than never, since Carden is now almost 7 1/2 months old!)

2009-07-29T21:53:00.022-05:00

Carden Elizabeth is now 7 months old! She continues to be a very happy and laid back baby. She now has two bottom teeth. She isn’t crawling yet, but sure can get around by rolling and scooting on her back. She absolutely LOVES her exersaucer, it has a green dragon puppet attached to it and she squeals with joy when you make it talk to her. There is no telling how many hours we’ve spent just watching her play in the thing! Thank you Faye & Jeff Wishik for getting it for her, she is putting it to great use!

We surprised Mimi & G (Carden’s great grandparents) by attending this year’s Chafin’s Reunion. They were both in tears when we walked in the door! I think it was something like the 87th year for this reunion. It was nice to catch up with the family that you don’t see on a regular basis. Here is Carden with her cousins Brenden, Reilley, Amelia, and Andy--what a crew!

Over the 4th of July weekend, Carden made her first road trip to North Carolina. We spent the weekend with Jason’s parents and found time to squeeze in a picnic and short hike with the Koontz Family up on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was great to catch up with them and enjoy the beautiful weather and scenery of Western North Carolina. No trip to Asheville would be complete without a trip to Tupelo Honey. We were disappointed to learn that Sharon is no longer the owner and they no longer serve breakfast all day, but the food was still wonderful!

Is it wrong that we find humor in feeding her green peas and watching her make the gaging faces? Other than green peas, she is a great eater depending on who feeds her. There are times when I think she ends up wearing more of the food than getting it into her mouth. I just can’t bring myself to feed her the meats--kind of makes me throw up a little bit just thinking of it--meat flavored pudding! GAG!

6 Months!

2009-06-23T14:10:00.014-05:00

Has it really been 6 months? She is halfway to a year already!
We’ve recently experienced a number of first:

*1st trip to the Pediatric Emergency Room due to Pink Eye! Carden had a mild case which she spread to Mommy who ended up with a really nasty case!

*1st time to try baby food. Carden loves Sweet Potatoes and Squash. We are starting with yellow/orange foods and slowly moving onto other flavors/colors. Introducing all veggies before we move onto the good stuff—fruits! We are sure about the baby food meats--it kind of makes me gag just thinking about them.

Here's what she looked like after Daddy's first attempt to feed her Sweet Potatoes!

*Mommy’s 1st overnight trip away from Carden, leaving daddy completely in charge!

Carden is growing like a weed. She is almost too tall for her infant car seat. We’ll be heading to the MD for her 6 month check up next week so we’ll know her "official" height and weight then. Now that she is eating baby food, she is starting to fill out a little more—this is evident by her even rounder face, but she is still really skinny so 6 month clothes are too wide but are the perfect length (I wish I had this problem!)
She is babbling constantly. Jason swears that she is saying DaDa! Anything that she can get her hands onto immediately go into her mouth—hands, toys, clothes, blankets, hair. We are constantly trying to keep her from sucking her thumb for fear of future orthodontic problems.

5 Months

2009-05-26T23:43:00.010-05:00

Carden recently turned 5 months old and we are so looking forward to what she will be doing at this stage in her life. During her 4th month, she learned to roll over, got more chatty, and started to sleep through the night. She also discovered that most things can fit into her mouth--her hands, feet (oh to be that flexible), toys, and anything else she can get her hands on. She loves to grab a hand full of my hair if I don't have it pulled back out of her reach.

To celebrate turning 5 months old, we started her on rice cereal. What a mess! Note to all first time moms, don’t try this when the baby is really hungry because it will just frustrate them and cause lots of drama. She did much better after being nursed and had a little something already in her belly. She is getting much better eating from a spoon each time we feed her!

Philip came home for a visit and was able to spend a lot of quality time bonding with his niece. He hasn’t seen Carden since she was born, so he enjoyed playing with her since she is so much more interactive. I love how much he adores her! We are going to be in trouble when he come to visit when she is a toddler just based on how excited and silly he gets her at 5 months old.

WhistleStop 2009

2009-05-26T17:52:00.010-05:00

Torrential rain storms and tornado warnings can't stop Team Pork Man! What a muddy mess this year's WhistleStop Festival was! Thanks to Pork Man Chef/Ring Leader Joe Wallace we actually had a plan when it came to cooking our chicken and ribs and it paid off. We placed 27th overall compared to last year's 70th!

Our friend Jenny Askins is running for Alabama House Seat 6. Unfortunately this is not our district, but we all wore her stickers to show our love and support for her! Good Luck Jenny!

I can roll over now!

2009-05-01T13:35:00.006-05:00

Carden is currently mastering the technique of rolling over and of course I had to document the occasion by taking lots of photos! This allows her to grab toys on her own instead of relying on mom and dad to hand them to her!

Four Months

2009-04-25T15:52:00.014-05:00

It is hard to believe that Carden is already 4 months old. Her smile and baby talk just melts our hearts. She is doing very well at Miss Marcia’s, which makes dropping her off their so much easier! They tell us that she is the most laid back one in her class. I’ve met a couple of people that have babies that were born a few days before Carden and it amazes me just how different babies can be. I think all 4 month olds should be as tall as Carden but then when I see the little chubby 4 month olds I get concerned that she is too thin. I was talking to another mother that gave birth to a big baby (10 lbs 3 oz) and we both agree that our perception to judge other babies is way off since our kids were so big. I don’t know how many times I’ve confused a two month old for a newborn!

The Easter Bunny made a stop at our house and left some goodies in Carden’s Easter Basket (which required me to call every children’s store/gift shop in town to find.) Since Jason and I aren’t up to date on our nursery rhymes, EB brought a book of nursery rhymes as well at a book titled Someday by Alison Meghee and Peter Reynolds. I read this book in the store and it brought me to tears. It is a great book about a mother’s dream for her daughter--I highly recommend it to all you moms out there!

We are still unpacking boxes, but the house is coming along nicely. It is easy to get distracted having a baby to pull you away. Once we get pictures hung, I think I’ll feel more settled. Here are some pictures of Carden’s nursery. The painting was a present from Uncle Phil. He has a friend in LA that created it for the nursery.

May is going to be a busy and fun month, so I hope to do a better job of posting updates and photos.

Happy Easter

2009-04-10T11:28:00.003-05:00

Three Months!

2009-03-23T14:45:00.032-05:00

Where does the time go? I can’t believe Carden Elizabeth is Three Months Old!
I think Carden will be able to start her own construction business by age 2. She has been exposed to more decisions about building materials, granite remnants, light fixtures and knows more people that work at Lowe’s, Home Depot, City Lumber, and Parks Plumbing Supply than most general contractors.

The house is remarkable-I promise to post pictures soon. It is better insulated, has a new roof, endless supply of hot water thanks to a tankless hot water heater, beautiful soapstone counter tops in the kitchen, a great master bathroom and walk-in closet, more cabinets in the kitchen and the over all the flow of the space is a better fit for us. While it’s great to have a nice home, the shell isn’t nearly as important as the lives that are lived within and we are so excited about the life we have with Carden! Now if we can just get the boxes unpacked so we can start enjoying our new life!
My parents graciously put up with the two of us, a newborn, all of our laundry, and our two dogs during our renovation process, but I know they are secretly going to miss the chaos. I know they already miss seeing their granddaughter on a daily basis!

I started back to work on Monday, March 16 and it is quite an adjustment after being gone for 12 weeks. So much has changed since I’ve been gone, such as complete reorganization of our department that resulted in all new bosses/management and employee turnover, I’m just happy that I didn’t get lost in the shuffle and had something that I enjoy to come back to. Trying to live by a schedule was so burdensome in the past but is a necessity when you have a baby that you are trying to feed, get dressed, and dropped off at nursery school before going to work at 8 AM. Guess my days of hitting snooze to try get an extra 30 minutes of sleep are over!

Carden is getting more interactive every day. We could sit and watch her coo and smile for hours. I wish someone would have told me to go back to work when she was two weeks old and to take maternity leave about week 10. I hate to think of what I’m missing out on while I’m at work. She is rolling onto her side, sucking her thumb when we let her, likes to play with her hands, hair, ears, and Ike the pig puppet we got from Ikea. She has also managed to grab a hand full of my hair in her tight little grip—I for see a hair cut in my future!

We had to make a trip back to see Dr. Haley to get Carden’s Hib vaccine since they were out of them at her 2 month check up. Carden is growing so fast, she is now 26 inches long and 12 lbs 3 oz!

Two Month MD Visit

2009-02-23T20:11:00.008-06:00

Today was Carden's 2 Month appointment. She is 24.5 inches long (95th percentile), 11 lbs 2 oz (approx 50th percentile), and a head circumference of 38 cm. She is tall and skinny--let's just hope she stays that way.
She did great with her oral vaccine and the first shot, but screamed while getting the second shot. We are going to have to make another trip to Dr. Haley's office to get her Hib Shot, unfortunately they ran out of it so once it comes in we'll have to go back. I did surprising well and didn't cry when she got so upset (or pass out when I saw her get the shot--I'm terrified of needles so this was a concern.) Dr. Haley and nurse Kim said that she may run a little fever and need some extra snuggling and attention. She has been curled up on me for majority of the day and then daddy was more than willing to take over once he got home.

Two Months

2009-02-19T21:35:00.022-06:00

It’s hard to believe that Carden Elizabeth is two months old and I only have a few more weeks left before I have to go back to work. She has changed so much since we brought her home; I’m going to miss spending all day with her! I know it will be good for her to socialize with other kids and to get onto a better routine. Next week we start getting mommy acclimated to dropping her off with Miss Marcia for a few hours. We love watching all Carden’s facial expressions. She is starting to melt our hearts with her smile and her cute baby noises. She is very chatty, I know that is hard to imagine with Jason and I as her parents! Carden has discovered her fingers are a good substitute for her binky (aka pacifier). She has managed to get just the thumb in her mouth a few times. Next week is her 2 Month appointment, so we’ll get all her stats then. Here is the monthly picture with Matilda.

Carden loves bath time and we have found the perfect baby spa tub for her—one of her grandmother’s mixing bowls! I love this photo and had to share it.

We had Carden baptized at Kelley Presbyterian Church on February 15. Kelley is a small country church in Kelley Town, Georgia that my grandparents attend, my parents got married in, and just about everyone in the family was baptized in. She wore the same dress that I wore in May 1975 when I was baptized at Kelley. She did extremely during the actual baptism but got fussy toward the end of the service due to being hungry so Jason had to take her out of the sanctuary to feed her a bottle. I failed to take into account the change in timezones when I fed her earlier that morning. Afterwards we had a nice lunch with the family and Carden got to meet all her young cousins. She’ll enjoy getting to know them as they grow up together.

No trip to the Atlanta area would be complete without going shopping and squeezing in a meal at the Varsity.

Carden and I have become regulars at all the various home improvement stores in town trying to get those odds and ends for the house. We can see the finish line with the house! The soapstone counter tops are in and they look incredible. Now we need to put mineral oil on them to make them darker. The floor will be refinished next week and we are hoping to be in shortly after the floors dry and the final touch ups are completed! I’m so excited.

Progress!

2009-02-08T20:38:00.013-06:00

We have seen tremendous progress with the house remodel the past few weeks. Tile is complete in all the bathrooms and the laundry room, kitchen cabinets are being installed, and the counter top guys are coming on Tuesday to make a template for our Soapstone Counter Tops. Not sure when the flooring guys will be back to start refinishing the floors, but since our contractor is having hip surgery the first week of March, he is determined to get our house completed before his surgery. This makes me SO happy. I cannot wait to be back into our house! Here are some pictures of the progress:

Carden is making progress as well. She is starting to sleep really well at night—4 to 5 hours! I’m still trying to feed her every 3 to 4 hours during the day to ensure that she is getting all the nourishment that she needs, which I’m still not exactly sure of what that is since every baby book says something different. I’ve come to realize that the baby books are designed to make new parents insane. You read one book and it will basically tell you that everything you are doing is wrong! Other parents have assured me that as long as she is gaining weight, not screaming, and is eating and making poopy diapers then we are in good shape! We are completely captivated by this little girl. She is starting to make great facial expressions and has even discovered her thumb as something to suck on other than her pacifier.

A month’s review

2009-01-19T22:45:00.035-06:00

Carden Elizabeth is one month old! It is amazing how time flies. All I can say is that the first month of her life has been a whirlwind! There is no telling how many diapers and wipes we’ve already been through!

Jason and I are truly blessed to have a healthy baby. We both talk about how amazing it is that you can instantly love someone so much!

My college girlfriends that have babies take great photos of their little ones next to stuffed animals to show how they’ve grown, so here is my attempt. The biggest stuffed animal that Carden has is Matilda the Pig that Mimi (her great grandmother) gave her, so that is what we used. She was not interested in trying to sit up, so these will have to do. Maybe next month's photo will be better!

Carden met a number of family members during the first two weeks of her life—both sets of grandparents, her uncle Phil, great grandparents, and some of her great aunts and uncles. Thanks to all our Huntsville friends for being patient and waiting for the family to get their time in with Miss Carden before they got the chance to meet her! Below is a photo of Carden with her only surviving great grandparents, Mimi and G (Amy's maternal grandparents.) We picked Elizabeth as the middle name after Mimi.

Jillian came over a few days after Carden came home and took newborn and family photos. They turned out so cute that I had to share them with you all! She also created some ideas for her birth announcements. To view the photos, go to Jillian’s website and click on clients.
User Name: Carden
Password: babymakes3
I love the photo of Philip holding her. Think he is a proud uncle?

Carden also took her first road trip this month and what a trip it was. We went all the way to San Antonio, Texas to see our dear friends Carla Hinojosa and Daniel Landers get married. Jason was a groomsman in the wedding. The wedding was absolutely beautiful and Carla did an amazing job embracing and incorporating her Mexican/Texas heritage into the wedding events. Carden had so much fun at the reception that she had an explosive diaper and it got all over her new little pink Feltman Brothers outfit—I think it was just a way for her to get changed into something a little more casual.
We’ve learned that Carden is soothed by mariachi music because she instantly fell asleep when the mariachi band started playing at the wedding reception and at the incredible restaurant where we had lunch, Mi Terra. I highly recommend that you eat at least one meal and have a magarita here if you ever go to San Antonio.

Carden did great in the car. She slept for majority of the road trip, which threw off her sleep schedule so we did end up having one rough night with her in the hotel. We made sure to make more stops on the way home, so hopefully it will help out! Just East of Tyler, TX we passed a XXX Adult Movie Drive In Theater! How crazy is that? I couldn’t believe it. I was hoping to get a picture of the sign on our way home, but we ended up taking a different route.

The house is progressing. We now have dry wall up! Our house has great hardwood floors, so we didn’t have to change our floors, just match up the new areas with the existing and that work is going on this week. Next week the painters will be coming in. I’m so excited, for so long it seemed like nothing was going on, even though Jason assured me that things were happening but they were things that you couldn’t really see-- like plumbing and electrical work. I just hope that we are able to move back into the house before my maternity leave it up so we can get everything unpacked and in order and I have some time to enjoy the house before I have to start trying to balance family life and a career .

We’ve had an exciting and exhausting month and I think this photo sums it up! WHEW!

First visit to the Pediatrician’s Office and first bath

2008-12-24T15:47:00.008-06:00

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

2008-12-23T12:41:00.013-06:00

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

2008-12-15T11:12:00.008-06:00

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

2008-12-02T10:01:00.004-06:00

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

2008-11-14T08:38:00.010-06:00

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

2008-10-27T21:32:00.007-05:00

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

2008-10-26T20:30:00.004-05:00

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

2008-10-17T15:19:00.018-05:00

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

2008-10-02T13:57:00.018-05:00

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

2008-09-30T08:28:00.005-05:00

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?!?

2008-08-25T20:42:00.009-05:00

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!

2008-08-18T16:59:00.004-05:00

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

2008-08-10T20:17:00.002-05:00

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!

2008-08-06T09:32:00.008-05:00

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

2008-07-25T10:59:00.003-05:00

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!

2008-07-10T21:13:00.003-05:00

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!

2008-07-10T11:27:00.006-05:00

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

2008-07-04T15:51:00.003-05:00

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?

2008-06-04T10:20:00.012-05:00

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!