Bad Daddy

Here are my boys reading the paper together.



Here dad is being bad and videotaping mom taking pictures of Layden. Note the evil grin.

Baby Photos

Whole bunch of new baby photos on Flickr.
We are all doing well. Layden got weighed today and has gained 6.5 oz in the past 3 days. Less than a week ago the nurses were telling me I should supplement his feedings with bottles and formula because he wasn't getting enought to eat (less than 8 to 12 feedings a day with 15 min on each side). I am glad I didn't listen to them because we would be needing to buy him new clothes about now. Lucky for my boy that his mom is a regular dairy cow.
Mom, Becky and Katie went home today. I don't what I will do once Oli is back at work and I don't have anyone to wait on me anymore. It has been so nice having my mommy around helping me learn how to be a mommy. Grandma is already missing Layden.

Oops: fixed the links

Layden Update

Layden is now 4 days old and it has been unanimously decided that I make good babies. Sadly I am not so good at getting them out, but I figure out is out. We went into the hospital on Monday evening and started inducing labor. Two days later by Wednesday night the contractions were every two minutes and they claim I was getting a break between contractions however I do not agree, if the pain does not stop it is not a break. At this point I was hooked up to an epidural. Very strange feeling. I can't imagine why any woman would go into labor planning on getting an epidural right away. Your legs are no longer your own. You are pretty sure you have legs but they don't move or have any sort of sensation. Should you wish them to be elsewhere you have to get some one to do it for you. You can't try different positions and you can't take advantage of the lovely jacuzzi bath. Though the pain does go away, which is quite nice. On Thursday morning after a night of strong, regular, "productive" contractions, still no baby, the cervix is only up to 4 cm and has actually swollen somewhat. In other words, bab is most definitely not heading out in the normal manner any time soon. So at 10:54 am on December 22nd Layden Richard Walsh was born by cesarean section. He was a robust 9 lbs .7 oz.
Today he and I are both doing well. He is strong, very strong. He is already moving his head around, not always in a coordinated manner though. My family arrived on Friday and today all of them, except my mom have headed up to Sandpoint to visit the Olsons. Mom has stayed behind to help me because even though both Layden and I are doing well he is having a little trouble with the breastfeeding process. Which is causing his momma no end of frustration and even a little pain. Oli's mom arrived on Christmas eve and is staying with us for a bit to help out.

It's a boy

Just a quick note to let you all know that Layden Richard Walsh was
born between 10 and 11 am on December 22nd. He weighed 9 pounds .5 oz
and was 21 inches long. He was born via c-section and mom and baby are
doing well. Pictures and more information later.
Chelsea and Olaus

Day 2

Day 2 in the hospital. I don't recommend spending anymore time in the hospital than you absolutely have to. Especially if you aren't really sick because they only give you the amount of food they would give a sick person. I on the other hand will be needing enough energy to push out a baby. Hopefully today will be der Tag.

Jacuzzi and Hashbrowns

Well I am here at the hospital but still no baby. The prostaglandin last night doesn't seem to have done much so today we start with Pitocin. Hospital beds are uncomfortable, very uncomfortable and Oli says the pullout they have for him is even harder. So today we are both a little shy of our full sleep quota, especially with the need to monitor the baby in the middle of the night. Luckily I have a couple hour break before they can hook up the IV and start the Pitocin, so I may just take advantage of the nice Jacuzzi tub they have here.
Oli is out grabbing himself some caffiene and food and anytime now I can order my breakfast since it is after 7:00, so that is what I shall do. Mmm hashbrowns.

Let's get this party started

Well I go in at 5:30 today to get induced. Prostaglandin tonight followed by pitocin in the morning. Doctor said it could take as long as ten to twenty hours for the pitocin to get things going so don't be expecting any birth announcements too terribly soon.

Mr. Roger's balls

Mom arrived yesterday and even let us open our Christmas present already. That is because we were planning on making cookies and it is a kitchen aid mixer. So far we have made Russian tea cakes, molasses crinkles and are working on swedish rye bread. The mixing goes a lot quicker with the mixer, especially with hard butter. We will also be making peanut butter fudge, Mr. Roger's (energy) balls, peanut butter sesame balls and split seconds. Maybe other stuff if the mood is upon us and we need something to do as we wait for Layden.

Happy Birthday Mom

For those of you who can't wait until I have something more interesting to talk about, I'm still pregnant.
Also important to know: don't use anything but wheat flour in pie crust. Right now our flour is mixed with some barley flour and it just doesn't work out right. I made blackberry pie today for mom's birthday, any excuse to make pie is a good excuse. The bottom crust has got to be one of the ugliest pie crusts I have ever made. The top isn't bad because I decided to get creative and it is polka dots.

A brisk 16 degrees

Last night was hopefully the last night that our neighbors will manage to totally ruin our night's sleep. They used a novel approach (not involving drunkeness), vacuuming at 12:30 am followed by idling a large diesel truck outside our window for 30 min, effectively keeping us awake and consuming enough gas to heat a smallish country. Because we had already gotten about 4 hours of sleep we were not able to get back to sleep until about 5 am. Much fun. I think they are pretty much gone now, though we are still getting a wireless signal so perhaps not... We got our DSL modem this afternoon and will hopefully have it and the wireless router installed shortly.
Today we recieved a light dusting of snow but it is so cold (in the teens) that it just blows right off the roads. We took a walk to campus again today in hopes of getting things started but spending time in this lovely brisk weather may only be reinforcing his wishes to remain inside where it is warm. I think this evening will probably be drinking hot cocoa and watching movies that require little to no intellectual exertion, prove to Layden that it is entirely possible to be warm and lazy outside the womb too.

Mmmm... Brownies...

You know I made it 9 months and a week, not a single stretch mark on my belly. What do I find today? Stretch marks on my belly! I'll get him for this :). He's gonna bring his friends home and I will tell them all about how he was late and all the different things me and his daddy tried to get him to come out.
On the up side Magnus and Lisa gave us brownies for Christmas. Mmmm... Brownies... Then again maybe the stretch marks aren't entirely his fault.
You know how they say you should stab potatoes before baking them so they don't blow up? I was always curious about that but afraid to test it. Well today I inadvertantly tested it. Luckily the potato didn't blow til it hit the counter, and it was a small potato.

Nothin

Went shopping today, did some Christmas shopping, got a lighter weight blanket for once the baby shows up and we can't use the fluffy down blanket anymore. We also got curtains for the kitchen since it feels like our heat is leaking out through the large sliding glass doors.
Still no baby, no contractions, no change.

Spicy

Well I had my ultrasound and everything looks good. We can confirm that he is a boy, and what a boy. :) We went for a nice long walk to campus and back, got spicy chinese but still nothin doin. Maybe the chinese wasn't spicy enough. They say sex helps, I guess we'll just have to keep trying :).

Warning

Before I forget I just want to warn you all that since our neighbors are moving out at the end of this week so is the internet connection we currently share. We have ordered different stuff but it may not be ready until the 20th. So basically no news=no internet. There is free wireless at the hospital and at school so we may send out emails and such from there.

Kick me... please

Had my doctor's appointment and basically not much is going on. Layden has dropped down a bit but there is no effacement and only about .75-1cm dilation. We did a non-stress test, basically testing to see if heart rate increases when he moves. After kicking all night last night he refused to kick for over an hour today. Highly unfortunate because that means I was lying on my back for over an hour, very uncomfortable. Tomorrow is an ultrasound to make sure he still has plenty of fluid. If he hasn't shown up by Monday the doctor wants to induce. I really don't want to induce. Ceasareans are 3 times more likely with induction, labor is generally more uncomfortable with induction and the body is often confused about when to push with induction. So everyone cross your fingers and hope things get started before Monday.

Whore Frost

We went and got an estimate on the Tercel damage today. $1137.98, refreakingdiculous. Of course only 164.90 of that is parts, the rest is labor. Plus the fact that there are other random things they want to do. For example "Blnd fuel door w/remote" I don't know what Blnd is and there is nothing wrong with the fuel door. They also want to "R&I" the window, which is also undamaged or close enough that it looks exactly like the other. Grr. They did suggest that we call the insurance company because it may be covered under uninsured motorist insurance and amazingly enough it is. Though of course you can't just call and ask that. You have to file a claim. You file the claim and they say "You don't have collision so it isn't covered." Then they say "Wait one second I want to check something... oops sorry, it is covered under uninsured motorist insurance (what I was originally asking about in the first place) but with a $300 deductible because it is hit and run." So in summary, insurance people are annoying but $300 is a heck of a lot better than $1137.98. Also at one point she says "I see you have been insured with us for two years, thank you for your business." Then silence... so I say "You're welcome?" and she starts going again.
We also need to set up an appointment with an assessor. So she asks for my zip code, I give her Pullman's, no results for offices, big suprise. So she asks for an alternate, I give her Moscow. She says that is zipcode for New Mexico, so I give her Colfax's, California. So we both give up and they will have to send someone over to assess it, who will be calling with in the next 24hrs to make an appt. I am hoping it is not really necessary that we are there for the appointment because I can see Layden deciding to arrive whenever the appointment is.
Pretty whore frost today (yes I know it is hoar frost but I think whore is more fun). Funny story from Oli about whore frost from his first year in the dorm. Aparently they had some Hawaiian students on his floor and one morning, before the first snow, they had some nice heavy whore frost and the Hawaiian students were so excited, thinking it was snow, that they were out making frost angels.
Still no baby. Dieter says I need to have him today, he is tired of waiting.

Leaky Ceiling

Still no baby for those who wondered. Still no ideas, or feelings, or auras, or anything about when he will come. But it isn't too bad since my daddy cut his hand and he needs my mom to be home for a bit. Maybe Layden knows and is being polite and waiting. Or maybe he is giving mom a chance to rest up a bit and enjoy being done with college before he comes. Or maybe he is procrastinating. Who knows.
A plumber is supposed to be coming by this afternoon to see about a leak in our bathroom ceiling. It isn't a constant leak, on occasion it will drip heavily a pint or so of water and stop. Fun stuff. It is probably an issue with the pipes in the wall or the ceiling so I don't know how they will go about fixing that.
Oli vacuumed last night. Freshly vacuumed floors look nice. They give a room an aura of greater cleanliness than the room actually posesses. I like that.
I think for the next baby (assuming after this one I am still willing to have another) for the due date all I will tell people is a general time period, like mid March or late September. It's not like due dates are exact anyway, mine was supposedly + or - 7 days. Then people don't keep calling to check and see if you are still pregnant. Like we won't be so incredibly excited about it that we will atleast be emailing everyone about it. Oli keeps touching my belly and saying he wants to hold the baby. I would love it if he could hold the baby for a while but he will just have to wait.
Our nieghbors are moving out at the end of the week it will nice to not have late night parties above us, atleast for a little while. We are hoping for either a family above us or some grad students. Grad students in the sciences, the sort that have no lives and if they are awake at 4 am they are either studying or in the lab working.

Local News

Three found dead in Pullman

In more obvious news:

Its Freezing Outside!

Grr

Some of you may have seen the photo of the Tercel with its new dent. Glad it wasn't the new car but at the same time the new car does have comprehensive insurance. Hopefully we will be getting rid of the Tercel soon freeing up some much needed parking space. Oli did create a whole new parking spot by parking his truck on the lawn, he is driving the Corolla to work again now that the roads have been cleared up.
Nothing else new, still pregnant and that doesn't seem like it plans on changing anytime soon. Last night was unpleasant. Our neighbors had a party and I was awoken at 4:00 by the playing of loud music above our bedroom. A shoe banging on the ceiling got the music turned off but there was still a lot of loud talking, so I didn't get back to sleep til 6:00. I considered getting dressed and going up there but their driveway is very slippery and I have now slipped on it twice so I decided not to risk it.
Oli is home and sleeping after his 7th night working, which means 7 days off starting today, making it a good day for Layden to show up (hint, hint). I think it may be time for me to go cuddle in bed with him and try to get some more sleep. I think our neighbors are going to be quite for a bit, not because they are sleeping like normal people would do after being up at 4:00am but because they have taken their huge trucks and left.
Internet is working on our computer again so we have some new photos posted from my walk yesterday.

The cookie says...

And the fortune cookie says... drumroll... "Tomorrow will be a productive day. Don't oversleep."
There you go the cookie says it will be tomorrow. Works for me. I maybe getting a little bit of that nesting instinct thing. Or it could just be that this is the first time in a week that I have had any time to do tidying combined with knowing that in a few days all sorts of people will be visiting so I would be nice if the house wasn't a total mess. I am using Dieter's laptop and the keyboard is all wierd so I keep messing up and his mouse keeps wagging its tail at me distracting me.
Today I got a 1GB card for the camera, so now we can take 200 pictures at a time. Today I went on a walk and took 169 photos, many/most of which involved ducks. However I did not keep them all. So far I have weeded them down to about 50 pictures. Good practice for Layden except I won't be weeding them down quite so much.

Done

Sorry for those of you I scared. Just messing with you. Like I would actually be able to stop myself from posting photos.
I have finished my finals. Now I need to get the quizzes graded (apparently they are needed by Monday at 5:00). Then I am done for the semester. I can sleep again, atleast until Layden is born.

No pictures for you

At the risk of speaking too soon, I think I have made it. My last final is at noon and then Layden is free to come whenever, the sooner the better. Oli has a pager (free from the hospital) now so he can turn off the ringer of the hall phone and actually get some sleep during the day, yet I can still reach him. Hopefully I will be able to sneak in some naps before Layden gets started. I would like to be a little more rested. Though I traded precious sleep for studying last night I do actually feel pretty good about this final so I guess it was worth it.
I think you all should know that Oli is disappointed by the dearth of comments. Don't you know it is a misdemeanor to make Oli sad, punishable by the withholdment of baby pictures (Oli's idea). Now we don't expect tons of comments, but the occaisional one so that we know some one is actually reading this would be nice :).

Still no baby

Still no baby. The popular theory of the moment is that he is waiting for it to warm up. He has decided it is just a little too cold right now. Well too bad, it probably won't be warm again til May so he will just have to deal with it.
My last final of my college career (for now) is tomorrow at 12:00. So I will go study now.

Apple Cinnamon Zombies

Well I am still pregnant. So far Layden has given no indication that he ever intends to vacate his current abode. Little does he know, he has no choice. He will have to leave at some point and he should realize that the bigger he gets the harder it will be to squeeze out.
Only one more final and I am done with my BS. That sounds really nice. Now if I just didn't have to take that final it would be even nicer. All this studying for finals is leaving me a bit short on the sleep end of things. Labor is compared to a marathon and I am going into it sleep deprived, goodie. Well, I will sleep in tomorrow and see how it goes.
The predicted high for today is 22. Kinda a contradiction in terms high/22. Really more of a least cold temperature for the day than a high. But I guess least cold doesn't flow as well. So anyway, brrr.
I sent by husband to work last night and got back a zombie. He may be a bit tired. Mainly due to the fact that people kept calling yesterday while he was trying to sleep. He makes a really nice zombie though, brought me delicious apple cinnamon scones.
I should get back to work. Though quite frankly I am not terribly motivated. I requested an easy to grade quiz. Did I recieve an easy to grade quiz? No.

Procrastination

I have my first final tomorrow in Evolution. I really should have started studying before this evening. I didn't, I don't really know why, but I didn't. And now I am tired and I just don't want to. Really don't want to.
And I am hungry, still. I had oranges, peas, sausage, eggs, and spaghetti, yet I feel as hungry as if I had not eaten at all.
Had a Dr's apppointment this evening. Everything is going well. She offered to try stretching the cervix to get me started today and it was half tempting but since I have finals planned for tomorrow and wednesday that would be pretty silly of me. She said that frequently with the first child you will start getting signs they are coming a few days in advance. Not that it will necessarily work that way with me but could be a good sign for fitting my finals in. Speaking of which I should go find some food and either study or sleep.

A moment of silence

A moment of silence in remembrance of our icicles. They were the best icicles a girl could ask for. They were longer and cooler than any I had ever had on my house before. But on the 4th of December 2005 they were brutally cut down in their prime by the malicious stroke of a golf club. I think we all know who the culprit was (Dieter, in case you didn't know). Apparently they dripped on his head every morning. Though in his defense he did not realize I liked them and was waiting to see how long they would get. Many of you are probably secretly celebrating the fact that you will no longer be subjected to excessive numbers of icicle pictures. Here is one last picture so you may all remember them as they were.

Holy crap that's tomorrow!

Went for a walk this morning to take some pictures because the sun was out and the sky was blue. However, it was still very cold, aka icy. So I didn't walk very fast. On the way home I saw a couple snowshoeing, we were talking and they asked when I was due. I said, "Monday" then a little voice in my head said "Holy crap that's tomorrow!". I have been getting some strange looks from people in the neighborhood as I stop on my walk to take pictures of their snow covered foliage. I also should stop taking pictures of icicles. Really what am I going to do with 50 pictures of icicles? But it is so hard. They look so cool and just keep getting bigger.

An unhealthy fascination with ducks

We walked up to the park today for some exercise and to test out the new camera. It was getting a bit dark though so the photos weren't as good as they could have been. We were really impressed by the flash though. I may have a slightly unhealthy fascination with ducks. I don't know what it is about them but I just really like them. If we ever live somewhere where we could have some Oli will most likely come home someday to find a couple dozen duck eggs incubating under a heatlamp.
The snow just keeps falling, there are about 10" on top of the Corolla now. It is pretty but no fun for cars.
I suppose I should study this weekend some. I have finals on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Assuming of course that Layden does not arrive before them, in which case I will have to take them later.
Isn't my husband the cutest thing you've ever seen? (Careful how you answer, I am pregnant and unstable)

Russian squirrel pack 'kills dog'

"Squirrels have bitten to death a stray dog which was barking at them in a Russian park, local media report." - BBC

More proof of an imminent squirrel uprising, worldwide, from Jake.

Lotto time

Well I won, again. Back before we got married I won a free portrait sitting and $100 towards prints at a very nice, very expensive potrait studio here in Pullman. Last month Oli and I were in the mall and the same studio was having another drawing, so I entered. I won again. Still not first prize but the same prize I won last time. Crazy. I think it is time to buy me some lotto tickets.
So the camera busticating may have been bad timing but this is pretty good timing. We can either get a fancy photo of us as a family or just Layden. Anyone have any thoughts on which we should do?
Any one want a child blessed or a cornerstone laid?

Toy

We have a new toy now. (Our joint Christmas/Birthdays/we're having a baby present) Oli bought a Canon EOS 350D, very fancy. It starts up so fast. It is a "replacement" for our other camera. It mysteriously busticated when I almost dropped it. Note I did not drop it, I almost dropped it. Now the lens won't close and it won't focus. Just in time for our first born child to arrive. We took a few photos but sadly it is dark and so there isn't much to look at outside and not much worth taking photos of inside. Tomorrow I will have fun.