Mark, Joy, & the Little Harker's: April 2008

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Taylor's Goin' Cordless!!!

Wow! That was fast! Taylor is officially cordless! It came as a total surprise on Monday, just hours before she was officially a full week old. It seemed too soon for me for my newborn to have a full-fledged belly-button. Where has the time gone? Anyone else thinking of the song, "Sunrise, Sunset" from Fiddler on the Roof? Surprisingly, Taylor was completely indifferent.

Well, I hope the pictures aren't too gruesome...yes, we have thrown out the shriveled umbilical cord, so no, you won't be seeing it in pictures again. :o)

Taylor also had her first opportunity to be a bathing beauty, with a baby-sized tub full of water. She loved it! (Don't all babies appreciate a real bath after being scrubbed down with just a wet washcloth a couple times, and no warm water to relax in?!! And we dare call that "a bath?")

Well, that's all for now--and a first for me! I'll try to keep up on this as well as Mark has, especially since he'll be going back to work before long (paternity leave is wonderful!).

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

Joy

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Run for your Life!

No, Taylor is not walking yet. No, Mikey is not driving yet. No, Addie is not looking for someone to practice cutting hair on. (And no, a giant dinosaur is not chasing after you.) This weekend (especially Saturday) was an exciting one full of running and runs for our family. It has inspired the first posting not dedicated 100% to Taylor (though she's still at the top of our attention - she's so cute!). Saturday morning I attempted to bring back my running days and ran in the Salt Lake City 5K race. I was several minutes slower than the high school days, but I improved by almost a minute (about 21:40, though I haven't seen my official time yet) over last year's race, so I was pleased with the race. (Although I remembered today how painful racing is!)

Coming down to the finish line at the Gateway. That's me in the bright orange tee shirt our firm had us wear since they sponsored us to enter the race.

Mikey did his share of running on the soccer field. He had his first soccer game Saturday and really enjoyed it. He was a little concerned when he went to his first practice this week and found out the exciting news... he is the only boy on the team. We knew it was a co-ed league, but we figured there would at least be some other boys on the team... No such luck. What made it worse - the girls voted on a team name. Yeah, you guessed it- "Raspberries". They had to veto the red dragons, and went with the raspberries. First item on the agenda for Tuesday's practice- change the team name. That's what the coach told Mikey at the end of the game, at least. Mikey did great! He was a lot more aggressive than I was in youth soccer and seemed to catch on quickly. This is his first year playing soccer, but the coaches can hardly believe that. He was one of the fastest on the field. Mikey's team took on the blistering winds and the bright yellow opponents and came out with a 2-0 victory (it might have been 3-0, not sure they really even keep track of records in this league). He had a blast. If anyone would like to come to see Mikey at a game, email me, & I'll send you a copy of his soccer schedule.

My mom and dad (Harker grandparents) have been running everywhere this weekend supporting us - They came to watch me run the 5K Saturday morning, went to Mikey's soccer game, then my mom ran the kids over to a children's play in the evening to give us a break. Very nice.

Kelli and Addie have been running races around the house.

Joy hasn't been doing much running, but getting some much deserved rest.

As for Taylor's runs... well, it seems like she has the runs with how many diapers we've been changing :) She's been eating very well and has been a great baby. She hasn't been overly fussy- just cries when she's really hungry or messy.

We tried hard, and finally caught one of Taylor's sweet smiles while sleeping. I wonder what she's dreaming about?

Hi. Nice to meet you.

Yeah, she's loved. Mikey spent some time just staring at Taylor while she was sleeping today.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Taylor Comes Home!

Today's important post comes from Mikey. He wrote this in his second grade class on Wednesday:

Needless to say, our fears of Mikey being scarred for life over being the only brother --or rather, the only boy--in the family are currently appeased.

This picture was Addie's idea: "Let's say cheese & take a picture, Mom." She actually doesn't have such a 'cheesy' smile as usual--she's improving!

Taylor's first look at herself in the mirror - what a cutie I am!

Heading home from the hospital - hooray!

"This is my mad face - I haven't shown this too often, but I do know how to cry a little."

"I love my Mommy"

Sweet girl

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Taylor - Day 2

Just a quick update on Taylor. I added a poll to the blog, so make your vote as to which of our other kids she looks most like. I put newborn pictures of Mikey and Kelli below to remind you of what they looked like. She's doing wonderful and is eating well. Joy is recovering and getting some rest still at the hospital. We enjoyed having all of my sisters come and visit us at the hospital today. We're planning to bring Taylor home this afternoon. Here are a few updated pictures

Taylor at about 1 day old

Taylor at about 1 day old - not sure how much she wants to be awake

Mikey as a newborn

Kelli as a newborn

Addie as a newborn

Ambree and Drew, the proud parents... I mean, the proud aunt and uncle.

Aunt Melissa with her hairy competitor

Aunt Carrie is loving the new little one.

Mark and Joy with our little angel

Aunt Sarah and Melissa with Taylor

Our Taylor Noel

Good morning - I've been attempting to start a blog for our family for several months now, and Taylor's birth is the perfect opportunity to finally make a post and get some pictures loaded for all to see. For those of you curious to know all the details, I was typing out some of the activities of the day as it happened yesterday. It may be more than you want to know, but... if so, oh well. You don't have to read it :)

7:30 am - called hospital to see when we would be induced. Found out we were next in line, but no promise as to what time. Only that we need to be ready to come in.

8:45 -Hospital called us back.

9:20 - We got to the hospital. The nurse was Pam. She had Joy hooked up in the bed and put on Pitocin by 10:00 (at a level of 4). Dilated to 1 at Dr office on Friday. Checked today and she is at a 2. We're in room A10.

10:35 - Joy is still smiling and beautiful. Pitocin increased to 8.

10:50 - Dr. Terry came in and broke the water, put a monitor on the baby's scalp, and confirmed dilated to a 2.

11:45 - upped pitocin to 12

12:15 - contractions off the charts, but Mom still smiling (until I asked her if she wanted me to record the delivery with the camcorder - that's a negative :))

1:00 - pitocin increased to 20. I left to go get some lunch. Spaghetti and garlic bread - delicious.

1:40 - Joy is getting tired of sitting in bed. She's up and dancing a jig next to her bed. (She has mixed feelings about... Never mind)

1:50 - My prediction for when baby will be born - 4:09. Joy's prediction -3:35. Weight - 8 lbs. 2 oz. For Joy. Mark - 7 lbs. 12 oz. (added later - Wow - We were both way off on both predictions!)

3:20 - internal contraction monitor added.

4:50 - pit increased to 24. Harder contractions. More uncomfortable, a bit of back labor. The beautiful girl still smiling, but says, "Ow".

5:45 - standing and rocking next to bed. Getting more painful contractions. Joy seems determined to do this one without an epidural. She hasn't completely ruled it out, but the doctor said they are doing back to back C-sections, so the anesthesiologist will be busy the next little while.

6:30 - This hard work works up an appetite. Chicken broth, coming up. (Only juice and ice chips since the Marshmallow Matey's this morning)

6:45 - Dr. Terry checked again. Not much change, so order up the epidural. It was a valiant effort without it, but the pain should be less pain soon.

7:30 p.m. - Taylor Noel is born! 9 lbs! Lots of dark hair and plenty chubby. Beautiful girl! It took a couple minutes to hear that first little cry, so when it came, what joy and relief we both felt. She's very healthy and doing well. Joy was amazing! My mom helped out tremendously by watching the kids all day and putting them to bed at night. I've attached some pictures below for those who want to see more day 1 pictures. We'll try to update with more as we get them. Enjoy!

How embarrassing! One of my first pictures - naked and on a scale? How dare you, daddy?