New Experiences

It's hard to believe that just two years ago I met my dearest Don, my best friend, my sweet husband, and my eternal companion.  I'll never forget the first time he held my hand.  That was all it took.  I was a lost woman.

Now, here I am, married to this sweet man, living in New York, with a new baby!  A little piece of Don and me here on this Earth.  I am truly blessed.

I do like not being pregnant though.  It's been weeks since I've thrown up or even felt nauseous.  And that's without the nausea medication!  I even tried to sleep on my stomach again.  Man, have I missed that!  (And yes, it was too soon, but I'll try again in a month or so.)

I have noticed that I am cold all the time again.  Ah well.  It's a good excuse to snuggle with my handsome husband.

But enough about me.  This is what you are really looking for:  pictures of our darling little one.  

This is Rebekah on her 2 week birthday.    

She's wondering where the cake is... 

Here's our little girl taking matters into her own hands. 

 "Just let Grandma Walker try to take that bottle away...."

This is Rebekah's 2nd sponge bath. 

She's a happy little girl!

She always tries to get in plenty daddy / daughter time.

Rebekah has what my friend Courtney calls "FOMO" (Fear Of Missing Out.)  

She does NOT like to go to sleep these days.  But when she does, she's pretty cute:

Our Rebekah WillaMay.... Truly a precious gift from Heaven

My Story, as told by Rebekah WillaMay Walker

Ladies and Gentlemen...!  

(A hush falls over the room)

After many long months of waiting...!

(Anticipation fills the air)

The Walker Team is pleased to announce....!

(Drum Role Please...)

ME!

Hi everyone!  I'm Rebekah WillaMay Walker!  

And THIS, is my story.

On Thursday morning, (that would be the 3rd of November), Daddy told mama that he had a big presentation to do and that if she would go into labor right before, that would be great.  Mama assured me that daddy was kidding, but I have a great desire to impress my daddy and be obedient.  And although I couldn't quite get labor started, I had a plan.  (My daddy would be so proud of my strategic, detailed-oriented, plan.)  

MY PLAN

  aka 

Get the Ball Rolling

I would do just enough to get mama to call Aunt Shreann, who in turn would get her to call the doctor.  The doctor would then say to come in and get checked out, where they would find out that although mama thought everything was fine, she was actually pretty low on amniotic fluid and I would need to be delivered soon.  

My plan worked well.  Thursday morning mama texted daddy and said we were heading to the hospital, but not to worry, everything was fine.  By Thursday afternoon, mama was calling daddy to say they were admitting her and would inducing her as soon as possible.  

YAY... ME!  

High Five!

However, mama's body wasn't quite ready for me.  Not sure if it ever would have been.  The doctor who examined her called another doctor to examine her.  The results:  they thought the birth process would possibly do much harm to her small body.  They were concerned they wouldn't be able to do what they would need to do to induce labor, and even if they could, they were concerned they would have to do an emergency c section to get the job done.  They recommended we consider doing a planned c section.

After much prayer and many scared tears from mama, the decision was made to go ahead with the planned c section and the surgery was planned for 9 am on Friday the 4th.

Although they told daddy to bring his camera, the above was the only picture they were able to get.  Daddy took this right before mama went in for surgery.

The surgery went well and I was born November 4th, 11:08 am.  8 pounds, 9 ounces.  20 inches long.

Here's me trying to tell daddy all about how my plan worked, 

but he is too overwhelmed by my total and utter cuteness to listen to me.  

SIGH.... 

This is the first time mama got to hold me.  It was around 3 pm.  Daddy was about ready to go out and hunt me down, but lucky for the nurses, they finally brought me in.

This is where mama said, "how did she ever fit inside me?" 

In fact, later the next day mama laid me on her chest.  

My head fit under her chin and my feet went all the way down to her thighs.  

I tried to tell her there was no room in there!

Uncle JoJo says that I look like a normal size newborn when daddy holds me, 

but when mama holds me, I look HUGE!  

In fact, this IS a historic day for the William Rulon Stirland family.  

It is the first, and probably the last time any one of the grandkids will ever reached the 90th percentile!  

All I can say is "GO DADDY'S GENES!"

I decided to break daddy in and give him a diaper change right away.  

Look at the anticipation on daddy's face.  He's loving every minute of this!

By then I was tired.  All that planning, my actual birth, the messy diaper... It was time to be held. And who better than Grandma Walker!

  

In case you missed that look on my adorable face, it was:

After that, I was more tired.  So....  I it was up to me to try out who had the best arms for the job.  

Daddy talked the nurses into letting mama and me go home a day early.

THANK YOU DADDY!!!

And here's me in my going home outfit.

I'll pause here for you to ponder on my ever present cuteness....

Okay, moving on.... (you can scroll back if you like.)

We finally made it home.  YAY!

Once we got home, daddy put mama to bed and I got to stay up and watch the race with him!  We cheered for Tony Stewart, after all, he's a Hoosier just like daddy.  And guess what!

Tony WON!  

My first Nascar Race with daddy and Tony won.  Life is good.

Now days I'm still trying to figure out who takes care of me the best.  

Grandma Walker does a great job.

Mama?

Yeah, Mama does okay... I'll keep her.

It's definitely a work in progress, but she is trainable.  I'll teach her what to do in no time.

So, there's my story!  Now days, I'm just doing my best to be as cute as can be, which isn't all that hard.

And I'm totally ready and rearing to go! 

 Let's go life.  Bring it on!

Baby Shower, Daddy Style

On Tuesday, November 1st, my sweet husband was called down to a "meeting" at 3:00 pm.  He prepared very well and arrived with folders and such ready to go.  

Silly Don... it's a surprise party in your honor!  Complete with cake and presents and (Don's favorite) Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Here's the fun card that everyone signed:

Look Dad, GLOW IN THE DARK BINKIES!

Look! Don's SMILING!  For a picture!  Wow! 

Don was very overwhelmed with the kindness of the division.  They gave us so much!  (And they remembered how much he loves cookies....)  Below is a group shot of some of the presents.  

Mary Ellin Kurtz made this for our little girl's room:

Don likes this onesie:

He says "yeah, but that will only be until she's 14..."

Many thanks to the division for the daddy style baby shower.  You made his day.  Don, Rebekah and I are truly grateful for your kind generosity.  Not to mention the cookies....  

By the way, Rebekah WillaMay Walker is here!  Check back soon....

Baby Shower, Mama Style

Let me say first that I was concerned about the financial aspect of having a child.  So much to buy, and since we are living away from family I really didn't expect those much needed hand-me-downs.  I am very happy to say how mistaken I was.
Rebekah has already received a huge outpouring of love from so many people!  I will do my best to remember everyone, but remember I am pregnant and my brain isn't working as well as it should. (I wonder how long I can continue to ride the "pregnancy brain" excuse...) :D
Because of the great generosity of the Guymans, the Daisleys, the Hughes, the MacDonalds, the Crofts, and Don's work friend Adda, we are now fully set with items not limited to but including:

Boxes of baby clothes
Baby blankets
Swing
Play mat
Exersaucer
Jumper
Baby monitor
Diaper bag
Play yard
Baby bath
Bumbo chair
High chair
Baby Bjorn

This is not to mention the maternity clothes given to me by Sara Snarr and lent to me by Michelle Croft and Jessica Zamek.

How grateful we are for such good people who are so willing to help out.  You have greatly blessed Rebekah's life without asking for anything in return.  Not a day goes by when Don and I don't look around our little living room and say, "we are truly blessed." Thank you.

And if all this wasn't enough, Rebekah was recently thrown a baby shower by Michelle Croft, Kim Hughes, and Jessica Zamek.

It was a fun evening of good food and good people.  Courtney was there, although you don't see her in any of the pictures.  She's the one taking them...

Michelle did a fabulous job playing hostess.

Here's some of the good times:

They had me sit in an office chair, since the couch was too cushion-y and the folding chair too hard... I felt a little like Goldilocks... "This chair was JUST RIGHT..."

However, I still had trouble opening the gifts.  I couldn't reach over my big belly. Eventually I put the bag on the floor and tried to reach into it, but that didn't work either.  Soo...

WHITNEY PIZZA to the rescue!  

I leaned over to her and said, "How about you open the gifts and hand them to me."  She agreed and the rest of the gift giving went totally smooth.  Although there were times when she would lean over to me and say, "I don't know what this is..." and I would lean back and say, "Yeah... I don't either, just look excited...." But we were overheard and every baby item was thoroughly explained.

(By the way - cool story:  My good friend Courtney, being much more social then I, found out that Whitney went to Butler Middle School!  (For those of you that don't know, that's where we use to teach.) We weren't there the same time Whitney was, but she mentioned perhaps we knew her brother.  I put it together and we both said "Taylor Pizza" at the same time. She then texted her brother and asked if he remembered Ms. Stirland or Mrs. Wiese.  He said he remembered Stirland and asked why.  "I'm at her baby shower..." was her reply. Small world!

Here are some more people who attended Rebekah's shower. (The one in green is Michelle the Hostess.)

By the way, this wonderful lady in grey (RuthAnn) took time out of her busy schedule to 

1. take me to a dr's appointment (so Don could save his days off)

2. help me clean up the spare room in preparation for Courtney and Mom Walker's stay.  

What greater gift could one give then one's time.

This if for all you that so desire to see how big my belly has become... Not the most attractive picture I suppose, but I have taken worse...

Here are some of the wonderful gifts laid out.

As I said, we are truly truly blessed.  Thank you all so much!