Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Big Girl!


Eowyn had her 2-week checkup today. She was born at 8lb 8oz (3885.5 grams), but she now weighs in at a hefty 8lb 13oz (3997.3 grams) . I'm sure that this is also the only time in her life she will want to be referred to as hefty. She's also now 21 1/4 inches long (54 cm) up from 20.5 (52 cm), so that's an increase of 3/4 inches, or 2cm. Also, her head size was 13" (33cm kopf), and now 13 3/4 (35cm). Which means at the current rate, when she gets to be 5' tall, she'll look like Humpty Dumpty.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Big Sigh o' Relief

We finally have a chance to breathe a little bit, and I finally have a chance to post....Last week was quite hectic, especially for myself with so many meetings. My mom & dad were visiting from Michigan and did way too much for us while they were here. I'm sure THEY need a vacation when they get home...

Eowyn seems to be doing well. She's eating, as Maren says, like a champ. And if by "champ" you mean "ready to eat every hour"...Eowyn seems to becoming a little more aware of things and she's holding her head up on her own when she's held upright for about 5-6 seconds at a time before it flops back into your chest. She also told me the other day she wanted a taco. That was odd.


Of course we've had several fun diaper experiences already...I think the Ad Council needs to come up with a "Know When to Say When" about babies filling up diapers.


Baylor loves her new "sister." When Eowyn wakes up and cries, Baylor will go and sit next to her and grunt-cry for us. She loves to stand w/ her paws on the pack-n-play and look in. I've never seen her tail wag so fast as when she gets a chance to check in on her.

We still don't have a home phone, internet or tv. There isn't much option to choose from here, but its all outrageously priced. That is a priority this week, however, so that Maren doesn't go insane at home w/ Eowyn.


Sunday, August 19, 2007

Eowyn & Sophie

We left the hospital about 10 pm last night. Eowyn's cultures came back negative. If they hadn't, it would have been 7 more days in the hospital for her in Waco...I would've had to go back to Marshall for school this week, so thank God for that.

Baylor (our dog, not the school) was absolutely wonderful when we brought Eowyn home last night. First, we let her greet her mommy, who she missed very much. Then, sitting with Maren on the couch, we presented Eowyn to her. Her tail (Baylor, not Eowyn...Eowyn doesn't have a tail...) was going about 100mph (about 180 kmh) when she saw her. She just wanted to sniff her all over. As the night went on, she just really seemed like she wanted to help out. She was such a sweet dog last night (as she always is...).

We're leaving for Marshall in a few minutes, and I don't know when I'll get a chance to add more pictures or videos, so here's a short one from last night at the hospital. Renee & her daughters brought us some much-welcomed Bush's chicken. I'm sure Renee is going to love telling this story, so if you read it first, let her tell it anyway: Sophie kept touching & stroking Eowyn, and she had asked on Wednesday night if she could hold her. Of course Renee said no. She didn't ask Saturday, or I didn't hear her. So I told her to sit in the chair and put the boppy pillow in her lap, and then I gave her Eowyn. She was so excited she didn't know what to say...

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Eowyn Grace, with pictures










Eowyn Grace

Eowyn Grace was born today, August 15, 2007, at 3:23 pm, central time at Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center. She was 8 lb, 8 oz (3,864 grams) and 20 1/2 inches long (52 cm).

Maren's water broke at 8:30 pm Tuesday night. (Don't worry, Atalie & Justin...she got to the toilet quickly and no mess to your house...and thanks again for putting us up for two weeks between moving...) We arrived at the hospital at 10:30pm. She had the epidural after trying her best to hold out at 6 am, received Potocin about 6:30 am, and finally delivered our daughter at 3:23 pm. It was a long day for us. I slept about 3 1/2 hours during that time, Maren dozed off once or twice.

Eowyn is very healthy and happy. She recognizes Mommy & Daddy's voices & seems to react to them with familiarity. We're not sure yet who she looks like.

Daddy was stupid & left the camera at the hospital, so no pictures yet. But I'll attach some tomorrow afternoon. If you're interested, the blog below has "the story" about how we picked the name.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Eowyn Grace Records

This blog is dedicated to explaining how we came about with the name Eowyn Grace for our little girl.

When we began working on names, we simply started flipping through name books. We wanted something that would not be difficult for either of our my families to pronounce (remember, Maren's family is all German-speaking and some letters take on different pronunciations). But I soon realized that I loved the sounds of old Welsh and Celtic names. I liked the name Eowyn, from J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" (LOTR), but didn't think Maren would go for that. But there were a few others that I liked, such as "Aereonwyn". Maren thought 4 syllables was too many, and that name specifically was too hard for her to remember, so that was out. But then Maren said, "what about Eowyn. I know you like that name." When I reminded her that Eowyn was the King's niece in Rohan in LOTR, and the kingdom of Rohan was the horse kingdom, she was sold.

Tolkien created the name, like he did many others, but the name is derived from two old English words: Eoh meaning horse, and Wyn (short form of many derivatives in English, Welsh, Gaelic) meaning joy. The name Eowyn does not appear in very many naming websites or books at all. One says the name means "horse of joy", but we decided it means something else based on a LOTR site we found, "horses bring joy".

For a middle name, we wanted something to contrast with the flowing sound of Eowyn. We wanted a 1-syllable name, and Grace just felt right. We wanted something that had a biblical feel as well.

So when she's old enough, I will enjoy reading to her J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

Monday, August 13, 2007

no baby yet...

Maren & I are still excitedly waiting! (I'd put 15 "!s", but that would be too cheesey...)

Poor Maren (reflection of her state, not her financial situation) has a cold, too. She keeps wondering how she's going to breathe during labor, and I'm wondering if its possible to block a punch from a woman in labor who can't breathe when you tell her "breeeathe"...

The baby was quite active in church yesterday. Lots of weird stomach contortions.

Just wanted to give an update. I'm busting at the seams to see her!

And...er...so is Maren...

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Update

ok...so we have a place to live! We're going to lease the house we will be buying until we're able to resolve all of the titleship issues! So I don't have to take the wife & kid to a bridge, box, hotel, or my office when we do get to Marshall.

Go crazy!