happy birthday, Lewis!

Today Lewis turned 2! With all the events of the last week, we were not able to throw him a big party or even a small one. So like good American parents, we decided to spoil him instead with a McDonald's Happy Meal. He loves french fries of all kinds, and chicken nuggets, so we went with the McNuggets meal. He seemed to really enjoy it, and especially the chocolate milk he got to wash it down with. He also liked the strange monkey toy that came with it. And actually, come to think of it, because he ate so well at dinner, this was the first day in a long time that Lewis fed himself all of his meals. We didn't have to spoon feed anything. It was a nice, grown-up eating day for him!

Lewis will be getting his birthday presents in the coming weeks as people stop in to see the baby. Today, the only gift he opened was one from Justin's parents. They sent some money and we found something at Toys R Us that proved to be a big hit. It's call the "My First Story Reader." We got the Baby Einstein version. It comes with 3 books and the "reader" reads it as you turn the pages. It also has interactive features that asks questions etc. It's really neat AND you can apparently buy all kinds of books that will work with it.





















The cool part was that Lewis actually opened this gift. Justin helped, but this is the first time Lewis ever participated in opening a present. Here's a video. Our friend Nathan McBroom is in the background holding Owen. He stopped in for a quick visit during the festivities.





Justin went back to work tonight. It was my first night with both boys all to myself. I was afraid that Lewis would be demanding to go outside, but his new book actually kept his attention most of the evening apart from dinner, which Justin comes home for anyway. I got both boys down by 9 o'clock which I thought was pretty good!

Other random notes about this week:

--Today I had my 3rd migraine this week....and I've only had 5 ever in my life. Hopefully this will not become a regular thing.

--We switched Lewis to 2% milk. He drank some yesterday, but today when he saw me pour it from the "blue" container, he refused to drink it. We gave him the same cup later and he drank it all. Random child!

--Lewis is now eating cereal bars and vienna sausages. We'll take what we can get! Beans and grapes remain his staples.

--Owen sleeps a lot, with the occasional meal and diaper change. He's not very fussy at all so far, and we are so glad. :)

more pics of the kiddos

We got home on Monday afternoon, just in time for Lewis' nap. He has not been too impressed with our new addition, but seems to be getting the picture that Owen is here to stay. At first it seemed like he was waiting for him to leave so things could get back to normal, but he's warming up to the idea now.

We're thinking Owen looks more like Justin. This photo is an example. Can you see the resemblance?



























Owen getting aquainted with Aunt Monica.





















Kelly Morgan (shown here) and her husband Nathan got to come by and meet Owen before their move to Michigan. We thought they'd be gone by now, but they get to stay in town a few more days after all! We're glad he came before they left.




















Meanwhile, Lewis has been learning about phones. He likes to hold it up to his ear when we say, "Hello!"


























Lewis starts to warm up to Owen. After ignoring him for a few days, he started to at least look at him and touch him by Thursday.





















Then tonight after our first family outing (to Toys R Us), Lewis agreed to give Owen a kiss! What progress we are making! He gave him several kisses and even one without us asking.





















Lewis was not drinking that coke by the way, just playing with daddy's can. Stay tuned for more updates.

Owen's first days: A photo essay

Dr. Gass holds the world's newest baby, Owen Andrew Shepherd

"Someone get this huge gob of goo out of my face!"

Mama's self portrait, w/ Owen

Grandma Shepherd bonds with her new grandbaby

Mommy and daddy happy — Owen, not so much
(photo by Rebecca P.)

A visit from Aunt Ellen
(Grandma and Grandpa Reitmeyer present but unseen)

Daddy's self-portrait w/ Owen

Squishface One

Happy dreams

Squishface Two

so far so good

This is mama Shepherd tuning in to let you all know that Owen's labs all turned out well, and it appears that we avoided the Group B mess this time! He is in the room with us now and just snoozing it up. He ate a little just after birth, but has been too tired to do anymore of that so far, but he seems super content.

Lewis stopped by to meet his brother and seemed rather freaked out by the whole experience. We're sure he'll warm up to the new addition soon enough. He was most upset that I couldn't walk around the hospital with him.

We're so relieved he is here and that we are all feeling so well. We're gonna try to get some rest now. Thanks for your prayers!

p.s. One correction: Owen is actually 20 1/2 inches long...not 21 1/2 like previously posted. When he gets bigger we don't want anyone to think he shrunk, though he'll probably be losing some weight if he doesn't wake up!!

The first breaths of life

:::IT'S TIME:::

4:05 P.M. — Justin forgot his camera cables, but…

WE HAVE A BABY!

Owen Andrew Shepherd, born 3:41 p.m., weighing 7 pounds, 12 ounces, 21.5 inches long… and a great booming voice!

Pictures up later tonight, along with more details on the birth and such. Needless to say Shelley’s a warrior, and this little guy looks a lot like his brother.

2:52 P.M. — Contractions about two-three minutes apart, and much more intense. Shelley’s ready to get this over with! The nurse is going to call the doctor, as she says the time is nearing.

Meanwhile, back at the homestead, Mandy got Lewis to take his nap! We’re thoroughly shocked.

Baby’s heartbeat is hovering at 160. Reds lead 6-0 in bottom of the ninth. Justin is about 4 degrees too cold. Shelley is in the zone!

1:40 P.M. — Contractions are still about four minutes apart… Shelley’s trying to relax by watching the Reds vs. the Yankees. Shelley’s OB, Dr. Gass, came by and told us he thinks she’s doing fine, that he’ll be back in a few hours, unless things unfold sooner than that.

All the nurses so far seem shocked that Shelley’s going to go au naturale, despite the fact that she did it last time and did great. “Oh, you’ll change your tune” they say… but they don’t know what a tough cookie the ol’ Shelster is.

Anyway, so far, no baby (and no score in the ballgame, either).

12:02 P.M. — We woke up at 8:30 today, thinking it was yet another normal day… who knew?

About an hour later, Shelley said she thought she was seeing some signs of early labor. So she hopped in the bathtub, I took Lewis out for a little playtime, and when we came back in at about 9:50 a.m. Shelley had called the doctor, who told her to head on over to the hospital!

Our friend Mandy came over and is watching Lewis right now… the grandparents Shepherd are heading down from Shepherdsville (no, not a joke) and will be hanging out with Lewis while Shelley and I are here at the hospital.

Her contractions are four minutes apart right now… she’s in good spirits and we’re hoping she’ll get all the antibiotics she needs BEFORE the little guy is born. Last time the speed of the labor left little Lewis with Group B Strep, which necessitated a ten-day trip to Nashville’s NICU — NOT the way you want your firstborn baby experience to go.

Anyway, childbirth has changed a lot, I guess… now I’m able to liveblog from here in the delivery room! So I plan on updating this, briefly, as things progress. Stay tuned…

38 weeks--almost!

Tomorrow I'll be 38 weeks pregnant. Today's appointment found me dilated 4 cm and 90% effaced. I'm measuring at 40 weeks, so the baby is certainly big enough and we're not wanting him to get much bigger. Hopefully labor will happen naturally and soon! We shall see. I've been having contractions on and off for days, but so far nothing consistent or painful even, just uncomfortable.

Here's me and Lewis, and baby brother.


























We've managed to get the baby's room mostly together. It's still doubling as a music room for now and we haven't done anything with the stuff that was on the walls. Here are some pics.




















A closer view of the dresser. We found it at the Goodwill and Justin sanded it and painted it himself. It looks completely different! We are really proud of his work on this.





















And another angle.....

shower pics

It's taken a while, but here a some pictures from the shower last weekend. My good friend, Kelly Morgan, put it together with the ladies from our church plant, Grace & Peace. Several other friends and family got to come too.

Preparing for a game involving eating baby food......yum!





















Courtney and Mandy enjoy some deep conversation.




















One of many cute outfits given to the baby.

















Missy Howard (left) and my sister, Ellen, admire the organic items given by Kelly.




















It was a fun time. We have learned since then that our good friends, Nathan and Kelly Morgan are moving at the end of next week! Nathan got a job in Michigan and starts at the end of the month. We are hoping they are the last friends to move for a while, but you just never know what will happen. We're grateful for the time we've had with them in our small group Bible study and just as friends. They're fun people with lots of talent and will have much success in their next phase of life. We'll miss them though!

last days as a threesome

Lewis' days as an only child are numbered! We are trying to make the most of our time with him without having to divide our attention. Mostly we've been outside baking in the heat! Here are some pictures from the last week or so.




























































Lewis smelling a cantaloupe from the farmers' market. This was his first real interest in a smell, and he was very impressed!





































Lewis has finally been taking an interest in climbing. He can climb into several chairs in the house now, and his stroller. We got a double stroller from the family recently and he is also climbing into it!




















Lewis can now do a sign for 'candy.' It's not quite the right sign, but we know what he means! He's also feeding himself grapes consistently after months of trying. We went back to cutting them in half and that seemed to do the trick. Otherwise he continues to communicate in his own way which oddly works the majority of the time. He gets his shoes when he wants to go outside, and drags people around to what he wants. If he doesn't want to do what we ask, he usually tries to give us a hug and/or kiss to distract us from whatever it is. It's cute, but doesn't get the results he's after!

pregnancy update--36 weeks

I had a check-up today with Dr. Gass. I am dilated 2 cm and 50% effaced which is exactly where I was at this point in my pregnancy with Lewis. At this rate, hopefully the baby will be born in the next couple of weeks. He said the head is down which is good news! No other exciting symptoms to report except for nesting and feeling stressed to get things done in time for the baby.

If you were around for our posts about Lewis' birth, you may remember our NICU experience. Lewis contracted Group B Strep from me as he passed through the birth canal. This time we are hoping and praying that we can get to the hospital in plenty of time to get lots of antibiotics prior to delivery. Everything happened quickly with Lewis, which seemed great at the time, but now we know that six hours of IV antibiotics can keep the infection from spreading. We have also found that Group B strep is connected to cases of developmental delays and could be a factor in Lewis' speech delay (and other issues) so we really want to avoid having that happen again. The good news is that Bowling Green has a NICU now, so the likelihood of us having to go to Nashville is minimal even if problems arise. That alone is very comforting. Please pray for this birth to go smoothly!

We had a fun and packed weekend, including a baby shower. We'll post some pictures soon!

Lewis' favorite activities

Currently Lewis is enjoying splashing in water (a big change from last summer!)....especially in the little kiddie size pools that a few friends of ours happen to have. On Monday, Grace Boyer was kind enough to share her pool with Lewis and Simon Basham. Lewis seemed to enjoy the water the most, and loved having the space all to himself for a good chunk of time.

He's also been much more willing to wear his hats, which helps keep his face shaded from the sun and the awful heat we've had lately.




















Simon and Grace hanging out near the pool.




















Lewis is also enjoying playing a form of hide and seek. Mostly we hide and he looks for us and we shout "boo" when he finds us. We play this in the driveway around our cars, at the park and inside around the couches. We also play "we're gonna get you" at bedtime when he finds it hilarious to run away from us when we want to put on p.j.'s or get him in the bath or whatever. Here's a short video of us playing last week.