More Pictures!!

Okay, Since we don't quite know what our schedule will bring in regard to Blogging. We have uploaded a bunch of pictures into my Facebook Album for you to see. Just follow this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=24757&l=c3ab7&id=519528554

Jared's Blog (he's my cousin)

My Cousin Jared posted some more pictures of our departure from the hospital on his Blog. http://jaredstorer.blogspot.com/2008/06/newest-baby-storer.html

Leaving the Hospital

We left the hospital at noon today. My cousin Jared, his wife Carmen, and their son Liam came to see us off.
It is a beautiful day here and it was wonderful for Andrew to have such a nice first time experience of the Seattle weather.
The morning was filled with doing paperwork and getting everything ready for departure. Grandma Caroline came earlier in the morning to help out too. I really think that she is just looking for more excuses to hold Andrew. (and I don't blame her). It is so wonderful being a Daddy. I now understand what other new dads have tried to explain but couldn't. I too can't explain the joy it brings to hold my son.

Andrew David Storer

Here he is. The most beautiful baby in the world.
Andrew was born at 7:30pm on June 26th 2008
7.1 lbs 17.5 inches


We will try to update as we adjust to this new blessing in our lives.

Almost There

Well, we are now in our 40th week of pregnancy. This may be the last week, or we may have a couple more weeks to go. It all depends on when Andy is ready to come meet us. Everything is still going smoothly. We went to the doctor last Thursday and she checked to see if my body is getting ready for labor. And she told us that I am dilated 2 and 1/2 centimeters! That means that I only have 7 and a half more to go. (You have to be dilated 10cm before they let you push in labor.) So that means my body is getting ready and we could go into labor anytime now. We are still bracing ourselves that Andy will come late because there are many women who walk around dilated for weeks.
This last week we also decided to have a doula (a labor coach) help us with our birth. Her name is Autumn and we met her at church. She is a doula in training and needs to get more birth hours and so she is doing our birth for free! What a blessing! And it is definatly a plus that she is a fellow Christian and will help us remember that God is with us and in control.
One of the annoying things about my pregnancy lately has been my swollen feet. With the warmer weather and Andy pressing on my veins, my feet have started to swell. Sometimes it gets worse than other times--like when I've been standing awhile, haven't had enough water to drink, or haven't been putting my feet up. I can't even fit into most of my shoes. This has made me want to be done with pregnancy and have Andy out so my feet can go back to normal.
We are looking forward to meeting Andy and seeing what he looks like. He is due to arrive this Friday, but we shall see. To help keep our minds occupied we have planned some fun things for this week while we wait: lunch at Cheesecake Factory, shopping, going to see Disney/Pixar's new movie Wall-E, and lunch at Spiro's.

Playing Catch Up

2007 turned out to be our travel year. And since we had our big Europe trip to blog about, and then our pregnancy, our other smaller trips did not make it to the blog. Until now.
In October Micah and I went to Disneyland with my parents and brother to celebrate my mom's 50th birthday. It is her favorite place, so she wanted to spend her big birthday with her best friend, Mickey. It was a great trip, and the weather was even nice for us. We always love to go to Disneyland; it is such a fun place to be. We were excited to go on the new Finding Nemo ride. And I finally got my picture taken with Cinderella, it only took over 20 years and seven trips to a Disney park. We celebrated Mom's birthday by going to dinner at the Blue Bayou restaurant in Disneyland. It was a fun trip! And we later found out that I was four weeks pregnant while we were there.
Our other vacation was to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico. Micah was awarded a trip from work for being employee of the quarter. We decided to go in December for my birthday. We stayed at an all-inclusive hotel and all of our meals were paid for. It was a nice relaxing vacation, even though it never got really nice out. One day we tried to lay out on the beach, but I got too cold. Even though we couldn't soak up the sun we still enjoyed relaxing, doing some reading and eating at the great restaurants.

Teresa's Wedding

Micah's cousin, Teresa, got married this last Saturday. A series of events and complications made it so that they could not get married at the place they had planned on, but they instead had their wedding and reception at the Olympic Fairmont Hotel in downtown Seattle. It was gorgeous! We really enjoyed the reception, especially the food-it was amazing. It is one of the nicest weddings we have been to. While we were there we enjoyed visiting with family and friends. It was fun to see some people we haven't seen in a while. Teresa and Kenny looked fabulous and happy. We pray God will bless their marriage.

Busy Thursday

This last Thursday we knew was going to be busy so we made plans so that we were ready to be away from home all day. However, it turned out being very different from what we had planned. Some of our plans were canceled, which turned out to be a good thing. After my Bible study group Micah called me to tell me my friend Lyndsay was trying to get a hold of me because she was headed to the hospital. We found out she was not in labor, but was having trouble breathing. The doctors might decide to do a C-section though so she was wondering if we could watch their son Owen for the night. Micah and I went to our doctor appointment and then I dropped him off at a bus stop so he could head to our small group while I drove to Lyndsay's house to babysit Owen and take over from Michael's mom.
Watching Owen, who is seventeen months old, was good practice for us. On Thursday evening I fed Owen dinner, we played for a couple of hours and then it was time for him to go to bed. Micah came over after small group ended. We tried to go to sleep around 11pm, but I had the hardest time falling asleep. I had adrenaline pumping through me. I think I was worried about Owen and didn't want anything to go wrong. I ended up getting maybe 5 hours of sleep. In the morning we woke up, got Owen ready to meet his new brother, Jackson, and fed him breakfast. We heard from Lyndsay in the morning and found out her C-section went well and Jackson is a good, mellow baby and they were doing well. Lyndsay's mom and dad came in the morning to pick up Owen and take him to the hospital. Micah and I figured this was a good practice for what we are in for when Andy comes. And really, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Of course, a newborn will be different from a 17 month old, but it was a good learning experience.

One Month To Go

Well, we are now in our ninth month of pregnancy. Andy's due date is at the end of the month on the 27th. However, we are expecting him to come late, hopefully on July 4th! But we shall see, he will come when he's ready. We went to the doctor last week and it was the first time she checked to see if I have started to dilate. I was not surprised to find out that I am not dilated at all.
I am getting bigger and more uncomfortable. It is getting harder to sleep and change postitions while sleeping. At the end of the day the bottom of my stomach starts hurting and I sometimes hold it up the help ease the discomfort. I tell Micah that I turn into an 80 year old woman at the end of the day since it takes me longer to get up from sitting and I feel so stiff. Overall, though I feel very blessed to have had such an easy pregnancy so far. The discomfort isn't all that bad, and I figure it could be a lot worse.

My Wonderful Husband

Micah has been so helpful and great during our pregnancy (and always has been). He has been doing the dishes, helping sweep the floors when my back hurts, helping me indulge in my cravings, and even cooking dinner sometimes. A couple weeks ago I was busy all day on a Saturday, and it was the day it was 90 degrees here. I came home and Micah was making tacos for dinner, had a bouquet of roses for me along with two bags of Doritos (I have been craving them for over a month) and he said we were going to get dessert later--warm chocolate melting cake. We also stopped by Coldstone Creamery to get some quarts of ice cream with a coupon and gift card. Then we headed to Olive Garden to get our chocolate cake to go. It was fabulous and went well with some chocolate ice cream. What a nice way to end such a hot day!

Baby Showers

So far I have had two baby showers, one with family, friends and people from church and one with students I have had in the past. They have been lots of fun and we have been blessed to get most everything we need for Andy. Baby things are so cute and fun! My first shower was at my mom's house and it was hosted by my friend Lyndsay who is also expecting in June. I got some handmade blankets, lots of cute clothes and other fun baby things. The shower with my students was also nice. It was fun to see my students, especially since there were a few of them I haven't seen since last year. We had cute jungle animal cupcakes and other goodies. Andy got some great books, toys, clothes and other useful baby things. I am looking forward to moving into our new house and setting up Andy's room and getting everything organized in his nursery. Hopefully we will be moving at the end of the month (right before he comes).