9 months- First Swim Lessons

Today we took Arthur to his very first swim lesson. He liked floating on his back, but wasn't thrilled about having his face dunked and didn't seem to trust the swim instructor very well.
I look forward to being able to get into our pool with him and watch him play and splash in the water with me.

4 Month Update

Wow, so much has happened since my last post. I suppose the first thing you can see from how little I've updates this is: being a parent keeps you busy! Sophie, of course, has taken the lead and as I am at work all day she is running the household and caring for our baby boy. I have precious little time with him when I get home before he gets cranky and needs his bath and bedtime. I still get a few milestones, though. I got to see, hear, and cause his first real laugh. Making him laugh is so amazing. Best thing ever.  He is standing with help for balance, and will probably be crawling before I find time to post again. In the mean time I am excited for Arthur's first Halloween coming up soon, and his first thanksgiving to be spend at Oma and Opa's house.

Transitioning

We are still in the hospital and Sophie and I are so very eager to bring our boy home.  It is exhausting so far, and he was up crying all last night. This whole lack of sleep thing is going to be tough to get used to- and this is supposed to be my summer vacation! Oh well, I feel good when I look at his little face. Having the nurses on hand to help with things is nice for now, and I'm sure it will be scary once my mom goes home and we're on our own. "Normal" life is gone now, and we're in this strange transition period as we figure out what our new "normal" is going to be. For now, here are some pictures of me and my son. 

Arthur is born!

Sophie and I were relaxing around 9pm last night, watching Star Trek episodes on the Xbox, a new feature we just found out about with lots of free shows and movies through Amazon. We watched, had ice cream, and talked about all the things we were going to do over the next 6 days (that's how long until baby was due). I was in the kitchen and suddenly I hear Sophie cry out for me. Her water had broken and so we tried to remain calm but were in shock. We called her doctor's office and then waited for the doctor on call to call us back. We gathered our things and got to the hospital around 10:30. After all the checking in and filling out forms, etc. they got her into a room and called in the anesthesiologist. Everything zoomed by so quickly. He was born by C-section at 12:57am. Little Arthur Joseph Armstrong weighed 8lbs 4 oz and is 21 inches long.
We have been awake pretty much nonstop since then and I am exhausted. My parents are here and they are a big help.  I am still amazed.

Almost Here!

We have had an eventful few weeks. We are at 37 weeks, and have had several appointments in the past few days. we had a scan at the OBGYN on Tuesday and our boy is still Frank Breech. That scan showed him to be 7lbs 4oz and in the 76th percentile. Two days later, we went to try Version to get him to flip. We went to a place just in the parking lot of the hospital where they do lots of ultrasounds. They scanned him at 8lbs 3 oz and 90th percentile. Sophie's amniotic fluid was on the low side of normal, so the doctor decided all things considered that Version would be pointless and just cause a lot of pain for nothing. So now we are looking at a likely c-section and we're not happy about that but are trying to stay positive.
Meanwhile, I have been working hard on finishing the floor in the baby's room. It is mostly done now, and thanks to help from our friend Michael, it will hopefully be done tomorrow.

5(ish) weeks to go

Busy, busy, busy. We've been too busy to update this, but here goes;
The baby's room was painted, even the ceiling- lot's of hard work going over it again and again, but it looks nice and bright in there now. I pulled up the carpet and we have been waiting weeks for the new flooring. It is finally being shipped so we ought to have it soon.
My parents came for a visit on the weekend of mom's birthday. They brought up gifts from the shower and we went to IKEA to buy some baby furniture. Dad helped me put together the changing table and we also bought a crib (there wasn't time to assemble it yet), then we put together the bassinet. Everything is coming together nicely.
The next week, Lindy came to visit and brought us a car seat and pump, so we have the essential things to get started when our boy arrives. We also had a nice dinner and lots of fun. It's nice to have my big sister giving us baby advice and all those fantastic hand-me-downs.
School is nearly finished (one week to go) and I am so excited to meet my son, but I am still nervous and I feel like there is so much still to do.

Painting the Baby's room

Today we worked more on painting. We have a nice blue color to compliment the yellow. It's all coming together quite nicely. It's going to be a very happy room.