Monitors

My parents came over tonight and made us a delicious dinner and brought us a slew of baby monitors to test out. We ended up keeping a cool wireless video monitor with a hand-held monitor that we can carry around and infrared night-vision for dark rooms. The video monitor also has an audio component so it can be used for both duties. We also kept an audio intercom system that my parents used when I was a baby - they still work better than the brand-new intercom they got from Radio Shack (which is where they got the originals 30 years ago)! So now we will feel a bit better when I return to work and Annika is left here alone with Liam. Now we can also use the intercom to talk to each other between basement and top floor without yelling which is convenient in general. Can you tell I like gadgets?

Dressing Liam

When I was pregnant and shopping for baby items, one of the things that always caught my eye were all the adorable baby clothes. I couldn't wait to meet my little guy and dress him up. I figured I would change his outfit a few times a day just because it would be fun. Turns out, that we do change him a few times a day, but it is out of necessity and not out of desire. A note to all mothers to be: babies are not barbie dolls. They have big heads that don't like to fit through neck holes. They have arms that you can't just bend in any direction. They squirm and thrash all around while you are changing them. And probably most important to note: they scream if you take too long (bet your barbie never did that).
As a result, Steve and I have taken to outfits that zip or snap up--no over-the-head move required. Luckily, his Grandma Betty has given us many of these "easy" outfits. One day, I did decide to try to dress him up and take a picture. This picture shows that even when you put him in something cute, he still might not end up with that barbie doll perfection.
Even though he is not without his faults, having him is way better and more fun than having a doll. I am really looking forward to watching him grow.

Everyday Magic

Liam got a bunch of new clothes and toys from Annika's friend Mariel today. In the photo, he's sitting in a new chair that vibrates, plays music and has a mirror and toy above for Liam to look at. We put him in the chair tonight for some of his "activity" time - which basically consists of sitting and looking around at the lights in the room. Everything is new to him so he must be trying to figure it all out. Its interesting that, at this age and for a while yet, kids aren't impressed by "magic" tricks because they don't know how things are supposed to be, so they aren't surprised when they don't behave that way (OK, there's a coin behind my ear, so what? Maybe that's just where coins come from).

The fact that it is a weekend has seemed strangely irrelevant to us. Today was exactly like every other day these past couple weeks. Night certainly feels different from day still, but time of day has become largely irrelevant too. It'll be very strange to go back to work on Monday and not be home with this routine, and yet know that its still churning along here without me. The converse is true also, it seems odd that, for most people, these last two weeks have been like most others and nothing special happened for them. It definitely gives me a different perspective on life.

Growing

Liam is now 9 lbs, 4.5 oz and 21 inches. He's certainly growing fast and its no surprise given his copious sleeping and eating. He'll soon be out of his current diaper weight class and maybe we can shift into the reusables soon. The doctor is pleased with his progress but concerned with his proclivity for holding his breath while crying. He recommends flicking a little water in his face when he starts to get in that mode. Now all we need to do is have water handy where ever he might cry :)

Annika's family visited tonight for dinner, dessert and a game of What's Yours Like? which can be a frustrating game, but is interesting and most importantly, doesn't require sitting at a table and is thus conducive to having a Liam on your lap. This was the first time Annika's brother got to meet Liam and he brought a Stanford ones-y for Liam to wear.

Liam, as usual was crying as Annika's family rang the doorbell, but stopped the instant they walked in the door and went to sleep. He was quiet as a mouse throughout the visit, and promptly went ballistic as soon as they left. At least he knows to behave when we have company :)

Suspicious Sleeper

If you ever have occasion to try to get Liam to sleep - beware! He is a suspicious sleeper! After all kinds of soothing tricks and calming machinations, you might look down to see a seemingly sleeping Liam with eyes shut. Not so! Liam is too smart for that. He knows that your soporific session is simply a sly trick to get him to sleep and then put him away somewhere like a bassinet! So, just to make sure, he opens his eyes a little every once in a while to make sure you're still there and he's still where he was when he was really awake.

Today my mom stopped by bearing gifts (as usual) including many new cute outfits for Liam from her and some more adorable clothing from my sister, who couldn't make it due to a cold. My mom stayed for a few Trivial Pursuit questions and a nice visit while holding Liam for us (as pictured in this entry's photo). She also brought a photo album of pictures of me as a baby and we compared to see in which ways Liam takes after me. We also got out a photo of Annika as a baby and did the same for her and Liam. We'll scan them in and put them side-by-side for comparison at some point.

I walked around a bit with Liam in the Moby again today. It seems to help put him to sleep, so I'm adding it to my list of sleep-inducing tools. I've also read that babies who are held for 3 hours a day are less prone to colic, and those who are kept upright longer have less gas. The Moby helps accomplish both goals while keeping our hands free.

Berry Pi and Handmade Gifts

My aunt Penny and cousin Dan brought over a couple more dishes for us including a berry "pi" in honor of Liam's birth date. We were supposed to eat it when my sister visited tomorrow, but she had to cancel her trip because she came down with a cold, so we started digging into it tonight. Its as delicious as it is punny.

Its a bummer that my sister won't be able to make it out to see Liam tomorrow. I know she's disappointed too. But, she won't be missing too much action since Liam is usually sleeping or nursing. The odds are low that she would be here during the random 20 - 40 minutes of "active" time he has during the day. Get better soon Michelle!

We've started using Mylicon on the recommendation of Annika's friend Karen, and Annika is trying a diet without dairy to see if we can get Liam's gas under control. The pediatrician confirmed that he does have more gas than usual. If we can reduce that, I think we'll have a much happier baby :)

We received a number of hand-made gifts for Liam and thought it would be fun to get a picture of him with them. Here, we see that this hand-made cashmere hat from Aunt Laurie will probably fit him in a few months...

Annika's aunts and grandmom on her mother's side made us this cool blue and brown quilt with all kinds of neat patterns in it. They also made a matching scarf for Makoto and ribbon for Yuki. Kitty's mom knit us this soft white blanket to keep Liam warm.

Hiccups

Liam is a big fan of hiccups - and has been for a long time. Annika felt him hiccuping in the womb long ago. Here's a quick video of Liam and his favorite pastime:


My favorite times are when Liam is awake and content and we get to just interact with him. This picture shows my view of him as he sits against my chest or on my lap. He generally looks around with curiosity or occasionally scours at my pathetic attempts to amuse him. Someday he'll laugh and that'll be wonderful.

Over the past two days, Annika and I have been dining on some delicious food my aunt Penny prepared for us and has been kept frozen in our freezer till now. Sadly, we just finished the chicken dish with sweet potato and apple sides. Soon, we'll move on to the fish (we're getting the final ingredient tomorrow)! We really appreciate the help we've gotten from everyone throughout this. You've all played a part in making this a better experience :)

Finally, we took Liam to the doctor again today and he could find nothing wrong with him (despite our several worries to the contrary) so our minds are now at ease. Liam is now a whopping 8 lbs 14.4 ounces, so I guess he's not going hungry!

A "Typical" Day (up to this point)

Although many people told me stories of their experiences and usually warned that I would get very little sleep, I wasn't quite sure of what that would mean. Of course, each child is different, but I thought I'd share the schedule of a fairly typical day/night for Liam in his first 11 days. We'll start with midnight (0) and go through 11pm that day (23) where N is for nursing, D is for diaper change, S is for sleep and A is for activity:
00: S
01: N, D
02: S
03: S
04: N, D
05: S
06: S / N
07: N
08: S
09: N, D
10: D
11: N, D
12: D
13: N, D, A
14: S
15: N, D
16: S
17: S
18: N
19: N, D
20: N, D, A
21: S
22: N
23: S

In those 24 hours, there are 10 involving sleep. There is no stretch longer than 2 hours without a nursing or diaper change or both. And keep in mind that nursing and changing a diaper are not trivial operations. They both start with crying, involve movement / repositioning of Liam, usually both of us waking up if not already, and then getting him back to sleep. Diaper changes also often involve a clothing change since even the disposable diapers aren't completely water tight. So that 1 am N, D usually takes the entire hour. Our hats are off to all parents who've already been through this - especially parents of multiples and or colicky babies... how did you do it?

Now, I'm sure every baby deviates from this, and so does Liam, but this gives a little glimpse into what our days and nights have been like. So far, his longest continuous nap has been about 4 hours, which was really nice. Of course, the best times are those rare "A"s where Liam is awake and content and we tell him stories, read him a book, give him a tour of the room, or just make funny noises with him.

All in all, Liam has been great though. Despite frequently getting up at night to take care of him, we're still pretty awake during the day and are always happy to be able to ease his pain (of hunger, or gas, or whatever) even if it means less sleep for us.

When I first met Liam

I have finally broken myself away from Liam to catch up on a little blogging myself--If I am not nursing him, I find that I am holding him while he sleeps. I tried to have a bit of a break today and managed to put him in the pack and play for a total of 45 minutes before he asked to be picked up again. I will be more strict about it later on, but for now I like that he likes being held and I like holding him.

I wanted to share the video of the first time I met Liam. Babies know basically nothing when they are first born: they know how to suckle, pee, poop and as this video shows, they recognize the sound of their mother's voice.

Moby

Today, we put Liam in the Moby Wrap that Nate and Kris got us and went for a walk. It was like swaddling Liam with me inside. The wrap is basically a long sash made of jersey material that you wrap around your waist, up over your shoulders and then around the waist a couple more times. It ends up making a little pocket with two diagonal sides and a bottom into which you can slip your child in various ways depending on how old the baby is. For Liam, we used the Newborn Hug Hold which seemed to work quite well. Liam and I kept each other nice and toasty warm and he was shielded from the sun once we pulled the pocket sides together. At first, I was a bit worried about his ability to breathe in there, but there was enough of an opening above his mouth for him to get air.

Annika's sister and father came over and we had a traditional Easter dinner of take-out Indian food and played Trivial Pursuit and Nymble. It seems that Sri Lanka stopped a 17-year war to give first aid to an elephant - hope that helps next time you play Trivial Pursuit.

Hands

At one time or another, all of us had hands this small. Liam's got a lot of growing to do and I'm sure we're in for many surprises. I'm sure that as soon as we figure out his current schedule, he'll be finished with that and on to something new. He'll keep us on our toes. For now, he has four states: sleeping, awake and curious, nursing, wanting to nurse (i.e. crying). So, its pretty easy to figure out what to do if he gets fussy. Of course, the most fun time is when he's awake and curious. He looks around and is fun to entertain with various songs, talking and silly noises. I recently found that he enjoys a quick fake bike ride. I prop him up on my knees and support his head while gently jiggling him along straight-aways, whoosh in his ear going down a hill and sway to each side while taking a turn. I figure he recognizes the concept from his mommy's many spin classes (which she took up until the day before he was born!).

Yuki is still quite wary of Liam, but decided that his changing table pad would make an excellent bed. We'll need to stay vigilant making sure Yuki doesn't decide Liam's bassinet would make an excellent cat bed! Fortunately, the bassinet in our room has a full canopy that keeps him out.

My parents came over tonight and cooked us dinner, watched a DVD with us and then helped clean up. It was fun and a bit of a relief to have a couple other adults in the house. They also brought our second bassinet (given by one of my co-workers) so we could set Liam up on the first floor with a place to sleep other than in our arms. He seems to really enjoy the new bassinet because he can look through the mesh side at the lights in the house - I think he likes the light-dark pattern that creates. Wouldn't it be nice if we were all still so easily pleased? Instead of fancy TVs, we could just buy a small bit of mesh and look at a light bulb WHEE!

Due Date

Today was Liam's due date before we knew he'd be a scheduled C-section. Its amazing to think that this little guy could have been in Annika this whole time, happily cramped up and hooked directly to his food source. Instead, he's been out here in the cold world where he has to do something to get food - what a raw deal! He's adjusting though. Due to "popular demand" (i.e. one request), here's a really short video of Liam. Its not good, but its a bit better than just a still photo. This is one of the few times Liam is awake and just plain happy.

A+ Baby

Liam had his first visit to the pediatrician today. His doctor officially pronounced him an "A+" baby (its his blood type). Surprisingly, Liam is already back up to his birth weight after just six days. Babies usually lose about 10% of their birth weight in the first couple days and then put it back on over the next two weeks. Since Liam's been such a good eater, he's put it back on twice as fast. While this same pattern might be troubling in an older person, this is a good thing for a baby so the doctor was happy.

Liam was much better last night than on his first night home. He slept for 3 hours at a time throughout the night, just waking up for food and a diaper change. Annika and I were much more refreshed this morning as a result. A baby his age doesn't have a big enough stomach to hold more than about 3-4 hours of food, so this is as good as it gets at this stage in terms of sleep.

Annika's sister and dad came over tonight to cook dinner and eat with us. While we ate, we put Liam in his swing for the first time and it worked like a charm. One instant, he was crying hard and the next (when I turned on the swing) he was sleeping. We have to resist using it as a crutch to get him to sleep all the time, but its nice to have such a powerful tool when the need arises!

Home Alone

As many people predicted, Liam has cried more at home than he did at the hospital. I think its because we're still trying to work out his nursing and sleeping schedule. It was frustrating trying to figure out how to make him feel better late at night last night and into the early morning. He's still sleeping for three or four hours at a time though once we get him content.

Makoto spent the whole day near Liam. He didn't want to go outside or eat, just be near Liam. Someday, he's going to realize that Liam is going to be here for a long time and he'll need to eat anyway. I think he's adopted him into the "pack." Meanwhile, Yuki still won't get near him. Yuki's probably annoyed that there's a new person invading his territory.

Its amazing how our sense of time is already getting distorted. Depending on what Liam is doing, time either flies or drags. A couple hours of sleep seems like 10 minutes while 15 minutes of burping, rocking, swaddling, shushing, etc. feels like an hour. Meanwhile, the things we're used to take much longer now - like going to a new room, or eating a meal. These normally trivial tasks have become undertakings involving many interruptions. I'm sure we'll get into the swing of it soon though.

It seems like longer, but Liam is only a little over 5 days old!

A note from Mom

Up until now, Steve has really been the only author to this blog and it is time the new mom contributed some thoughts and feelings:
To tell everyone the truth, I was concerned about how I would feel about my new role as mama. Steve has been such wonderful anticipating father that I thought there was no way I could match his love and devotion. I was worried about me being too selfish and wouldn't want to do all the typical mom duties. Boy, was I wrong. I can't say it was the instant I laid eyes on him (I was pretty doped up at the time), but shortly after holding him to my chest, I knew I would love this guy for a lifetime and would sacrifice anything for him. (I tear up just thinking about it). I am surprised at how much I like nursing him: I feel like I can provide for him and make him happy. I am surprised at how protective I am of him: I couldn't let him go to nursery at night even though I could get some better sleep if I did. I am surprised that I can stare at him for hours while he sleeps in my arms.
So far, being a mom is great and I already want to keep him this small and hold him forever.

A Lesson Learned

Lesson Learned: the re-usable diapers are too big for Liam right now. Although they looked a bit too large, it took a wet swaddle blanket (Liam's) and shirt (mine) to confirm :) We'll try them again when he gets a little bigger.

Homeward Bound

Today we said goodbye to the awesome nurses and our room at the hospital. Although we were happy to head home and introduce the pets to Liam, we wished we could keep the conveniences of the hospital (someone else did Liam's laundry, we just called for room service, a maid cleaned the room each day, and nurses came in to check on Annika and Liam all the time and took him at night if Annika wanted to get some rest).
For the first night, I stayed at the hospital on this bed. However, the last couple nights I went home for some real sleep while I still could. Now we need to decide where to set up shop while Annika continues her recovery. I might also need to go buy a cranberry juice machine to replicate the cran-waters on the rocks that Annika loved so much at the hospital!
Before we left the hospital, they removed Liam's LoJack device from his ankle. This prevented anyone from walking out of the hospital with Liam before he was officially discharged.
We got Liam all dressed up in a one-piece that his Aunt Michelle gave him and a hat that Annika's Aunt Laurie made for him. He was quite upset about being in his infant carrier at first and had a good cry. I took the harness off and rocked him in the carrier for a while on the floor until he calmed down, and then I slowly snuck the harness back on. By the time we got to the car, he was fast asleep and stayed that way as we arrived back at the house.
Our lovely neighbors had decorated our front door with balloons, banners and a sign announcing Liam's birth. It was really nice of them.
Once we got inside, and settled in, I went to the store to pick up Annika's pain medication. So far, her pain has been kept under control. Once I got back, we introduced Makoto to Liam. It was hilarious to watch him sniff Liam all over. He was really excited to meet Liam and has been following him around all day as we carry Liam from room to room. I think they're going to get along famously and we're both happy that Makoto reacted this way.

St. Patty's Day

Liam got dressed up in green for his first St. Patty's Day. The day went well except for a short choking scare. It seems that Liam sometimes gets so upset that he forgets to breathe for a little bit and starts turning blue. Of course, this scared Annika half to death and she rushed out for help from the nurses. Fortunately, Liam remembered that he should breathe and started to on his own before the nurses had a chance to do anything anyway. After this harrowing episode, Liam promptly feel asleep without a care in the world.
Meanwhile, I continue my "calm Liam down" duties and get a kick out of Liam's funny faces. Here we are after a little burping session and a tour of the hospital room.

Got Milk?

Liam is a voracious nurser. Fortunately, Annika loves the process as well so they're both happy. The nurses tell us that he and Annika are progressing very well and there haven't been any major bumps in the road yet. Liam is very funny when he is going to cry because he scrunches his face up and gets all red and opens his mouth up in a silent cry. He makes the funniest faces I've ever seen - he gets a look on his face like he just ate a lemon and he's not too sure this whole "outside the womb" thing is all its cracked up to be. Sometimes his cry sounds a bit like a giggle and that always gets me going. Of course, after a nursing, swaddling and burping, he's lovin' life again :)

Now that Liam is getting milk instead of colostrum, he needs to be burped so I now have one more way to participate in the process. My favorite part of this has been swaddling Liam after a nursing and burping him. Swaddling is a wonderful concept, it really calms him down and is pretty easy to do after a couple times of practice. I'm glad I watched all those videos on changing diapers, burping, and soothing babies on youtube - a lot of the techniques work quite well. We've both been happy to have the nursing staff around to help us and answer our myriad questions. That's why we've decided to extend our stay by one day.

We have a TV in our room so we watched the mediocre movie Bagger Vance today while Liam slept. We found that it is as easy to follow while muted (or even while napping) as it is normally. Its an incredibly slow and predictable movie, but it was nice to have something running in the background. If Liam continues these nice 3-4 hour naps, I have a feeling we might be watching a lot of movies. Of course, they might go more like Cast Away did last night, which we turned off during the opening credits because we were too tired to keep going :)

One of the things we've enjoyed to watch is when Liam looks around. He first opened his eyes in the operating room after delivery, and he's opened them more than I thought we would. He likes to look around and will stare up at us out of the corner of his eyes while we hold him and talk to him. I think he does it because he's so curious about what's going on and I think we're in store for a lot of "but why" questions from him in a couple of years!

Mental note: Liam prefers the flash to be off when he's trying to sleep:

	Flash on - looks like an upset Popeye.
	Flash off 2 seconds later - looks like a peaceful baby

Dos Dias

Liam has been a wonderful baby. We're told that this is not a guarantee of future good behavior, but we've loving it while we can and who knows, maybe this trend will continue! So far, he's a big eater and a sound sleeper. I had to wake him up tonight after three hours of sleeping so he could get some more milk.

The nurses at the hospital continue to impress us and we're quite happy with the hospital. Annie gets her meals through room service and gets to choose from a nice menu of food, drinks and desserts. We're also frequent visitors to the nearby drink and cracker room. Well, I'm a frequent visitor on Annika's behalf :)

Annika got up and walking today and took two walks around the maternal care unit with Liam in a bassinet. She's still handling everything extremely well and continues to impress the doctors and nurses with her progress.

First Night

I spent the night at the hospital with Annika last night because they couldn't leave Liam in there alone with her, and we didn't want him to be in the nursery all night. I slept on the luxurious chair that pulls out into a lumpy cot and had the jobs of changing, swaddling and transporting (from bassinet to Annika and back) Liam, while Annika nursed him. He was very well behaved through the night and only cried for a change or food. He is a pretty quiet baby so far, and we hope it stays that way :)


Liam continues to nurse well and has really been great! We did have him stay in the nursery for 2 hours last night so we could get a nice solid 2 hours of sleep (my sleeping expectations have changed when I think 2 solid hours is "nice"). I'm getting much better at changing him now and we're both learning a lot form the nurses at the hospital. They tend to come in about once an hour to check on things like Annika's pain level, Liam's nursing, etc. They've all been very nice and expressed excitement about our new family member (even though they see this all day every day) so that's been nice.

Annika is now up and walking on her own and is starting to feel better. Being mobile has given her a psychological boost as well. The pediatrician visited this morning and said Liam is in good health and has no problems. Another OB from Annika's group came by and was happy with her progress so far too. Everything is going smoothly and we're both thrilled about it all. Even Liam's cries make me smile.

Mariah has been a big help by taking care of our pets while I stayed at the hospital and taking a shift at the hospital to enable me to come home and update this blog!

Delivery

Today, Annika and I woke up like it was Christmas morning. We anxiously got ready and went to the hospital for a 9:30 check-in. We got a room and started getting ready for the sonogram and probable C-section. Over the next two hours, Annika was prepared for surgery as we waited for the doctor to do the sonogram and find out if the surgery would be necessary. Annika's sister Mariah came to the hospital around this time and provided support and company as we got closer to the time. At about 11:30, the doctor arrived and did the sonogram and found out that Liam was still in the breech position, so the C-section would proceed as planned.


I got into scrubs and Annika was whisked to the operating room where she was given her anaesthesia. After about 15 minutes, I was let into the room to witness the delivery, comfort Annika, meet the baby and document it as much as possible on camera. The surgery went smoothly and Annika didn't feel much. She talked to me and the anesthesiologist for most of the operation. The nurse asked Annika to recite her name, birth date and why she was there - which she did. But I thought that was too easy, so I asked her the square root of 81, which she also got right away :)


At 12:34 (pretty cool time eh?) Liam was delivered by C-section and brought around for Annika to see. After a quick hello, he was shuttled to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) station in the operating room. This is standard procedure for a C-section. Soon, he was crying on the NICU table and I was able to video tape again. I then got to go visit Liam on the NICU table and let him grip my finger in his hand, talk to him, and get a better look. He currently has dark blue eyes and light brown hair. I also got to cut the remainder of the umbilical cord and put on his first diaper.


The nurse weighed him in at 8 pounds, 6.4 ounces and 20 inches. This makes Kitty the winner of the baby pool with a guess of 8 pounds, 6 ounces and 20 inches! Congrats Kitty!


Now, they brought Liam up to Annika for a real introduction. She gave him a kiss on the head and asked if he recognized her voice. He stopped crying when she spoke, so I guess he did! Soon after, I escorted Liam as he was rolled to the nursery for a bath and some quick tests. He is perfectly healthy so far :) Unlike many breech babies, he doesn't even grab his ankles, but just lies flat. As I walked out of the nursery, I saw my parents and Annika's dad as they were just arriving. They came with me to Annika's room where we all visited with her while Mariah took a turn looking at Liam in the nursery.

Liam had no trouble nursing and has been doing fine all around. Annika and I will be at the hospital this weekend as she continues to recover. She's doing about as well as can be expected for just having surgery so I'm hopeful about her recovery.

So far, everything has gone really well and, as long as Annika recovers well, there's nothing more we could ask for. He's a cute little guy and we love him already :)

Pi

Since Liam is in the breech position, the doctors had us schedule a C-section. We were able to get scheduled for March 14th (3.14) which are the first three digits of pi. Besides revealing our nerdiness, this also gives double meaning to calling him a cutie pi or sweetie pi. Sadly, we couldn't schedule it for 3pm (15 in military time) or 1:59 which both would have given us a few more digits!

Furnishing the Nursery

After carefully painting the nursery to match our Pottery Barn Kids "Hey Diddle Diddle" rug, we discovered that the awful stench issuing from the rug was not going away. At first, we thought it was just "new rug smell" and let it air out by opening the window and door to the room. We also vacuumed it a few times. After a month, it still stank just as badly, so we bought a fancy new Dyson vacuum cleaner and I vacuumed it four times, filling the Dyson canister all four times with fuzz. We continued to let it "air out" for another week, all to no avail. Some internet research (why didn't we do that to begin with?) found that this style of rug had some kind of manufacturing defect that caused the smell (theories ranged from insecticide to glue). So now we had to find a rug to match the paint because I certainly didn't want to repaint that room! We ended up finding another rug at Pottery Barn Kids made by a different manufacturer with no smell and that matched the paint well.

Then we just had to wait for the furniture. We picked out and ordered the furniture in mid December but, (due to being hand-carried from Taiwan no doubt) it would not arrive until February 29th! When Leap Day rolled around, the Buy Buy Baby crew brought the furniture out and assembled it for us. Once it was set up, we both felt that this was getting more "real." We could now visualize a baby in the crib, changing him on the table, and pacing up and down the room trying to get him to stop crying :)

We're getting really close now and we're excited to get started.