Superman

You wake up one night tumble out of bed and fall to the floor in excruciating pain. Tears come to your eyes instantly. You've never felt such pain. Your thinking why, what is going on with my body. Standing seems impossible and thoughts float into your mind about never being able to walk or your body breaking. This is what I woke up to Thanksgiving night when I was getting up to feed Sydney. My back went out. Whatever that is suppose to mean. My body didn't work right and I was sobbing crawling to get to the rocking chair so that I could feed her. Paul was doing his best to try and help. I've never felt so vulnerable and helpless. After a chiropractic visit I now have to wear a back brace and use a heating pad. Things that make you feel old.

"I don't feel like Superman anymore."

So heres to the ones who don't feel like Superman anymore. To the ones that are young and feel old and to the ones who are old that feel helpless and weathered. We can only imagine what it feels like to have your body let you down. And all of us will experience that some day. Making everyone aware of those that may need us more than we may want them to. We wish there wasn't any kryptonite.

Mommy

We had lots of help when Sydney was born. Paul's Grandma and mother both came out. It was so nice to have all the help. We really got spoiled. But a surprise was that my mom got to come out. My siblings decided to watch my dad so that she could come. I'm pretty sure she enjoyed herself.

Her and Sydney liked taking naps together.

She actually played the Wii with us. She was really good at bowling. A little too good. I wonder if she leads a secret life.

Thanks for coming out mom. And thanks to all my siblings for making that possible.
By the way my mother has a new blog. http://www.thekennedykluster.blogspot.com/

High Maintenance and Germs!

After five years Paul and I forgot how much work it takes to care for a newborn. We are getting used to it. Hopefully we don't have to wait that long for the next one. If there is another one. :) This last weekend we had a really good time with Paul's family. His parents and grandmother where here. And Andrea and her family came to. Carson had a blast playing with his cousins.
We all made it to church on Sunday. It was the primary program and Carson did so awesome at remembering his lines. Paul and I got all teary eyed when he got up to do his part and didn't need any help.

GERMS!!
Well I'm going kinda of crazy because my house isn't nearly as clean as I usually keep it but I just don't have the energy. And of course I'm a snob and I think that there are very few who would do a better job cleaning my house than myself. Paul and I have been such germafobs since Sydney has been born. I'm sure that Carson has been so happy lately because of his blood alcohol level. All due to the Hand Sanitizer. But the Pediatrician freaked us out about RSV season. She told us not to take the baby out until spring. I'm pretty sure I will go crazy. So in our defiance we took her to church on Sunday. Carson is on Germ patrol of course. We walk in and one of the members wants to see the baby and so I show her and then she touches Sydney's hand and Carson says "don't touch the baby you have germs." He is so his parents son.

Now I've tried to figure out why I'm such a clean freak. I wasn't always this extreme. I mostly blame society and some of my sisters and my father. He is an organization freak. I remember looking forward to my parents being gone, when I was in High School, so that I could really organize and clean the house. I always cleaned my room and my bathroom without having to be asked. I loved scrubbing the kitchen floor when I was in elementary school. My mother says she missed me when I left home because then she didn't have me to help her clean anymore. So I have always been this way but I've just got more extreme over time. And I've taken Paul down with me. Sometimes he is worse than I am. But I know I do have supporters. Lani and Diane I know your with me.

On A More Cheerful Note....

We had a ward Halloween party the Saturday before Halloween. Me and Grandma took Carson while Daneen and Sydney got some "alone" time.

Was there any doubt Star Wars would be involved in Carson's costume?

They had dinner and then a quick trunk'r'treat. Then they had a bunch of games for the kids to play. Carson was having a good time getting little prizes and candy. We even got snow cones! But then he got in line for the game where you could win a gold fish. Can I just say I have never seen the kid get so crazy about trying to win a prize. You have to try and toss a ping pong ball into a cup with a fish in it. If you do, you win a fish....obviously. After about three or four tries Carson was in tears over not winning the game. He started yelling and screaming, making a scene and everything. I finally calmed him down and convinced him to keep trying. By this time the party was almost over and there were only like 8 fish left and only like 8 kids still trying to get one so he was pretty much guaranteed a fish. But he finally stepped up to the line and actually tossed a ball into a cup. He was so proud of himself.

Can you see the little thing?


Carson & Mason's Fish

If only we could have had a happy ending...

nope, that's a goldfish....

The funniest part about the whole thing was that when the fish died (less than twenty minutes after we got home from the party), Carson could have cared less. He thought it was cool that we flushed the thing down the toilet, just like Little Nemo. Little boys will be little boys I guess.

Here are some pics of Carson and Sydney on Halloween.

And last but not least, the little old man in his long johns feasting on the spoils of a hard night trick'r'treating.


-paul

Postpartum & all that entails

Well I have to say postpartum is pretty bad. (If you haven't had children yet you might not want to read this). Sorry, this is a complaint post. First of all the stitches. They are feeling better but for a while I thought "the next time I have to go to the bathroom it just might paralyze me." In a meantime I can't figure out why all these people tell me that "breastfeeding isn't suppose to hurt" yet they also say "it takes a couple of weeks to get used to." It seems obvious that it can be hard on some to breastfeed otherwise why do they have all these support groups and leagues. It seems like its two steps forward and one back with it. I'm almost two weeks in and I'm starting to think that I'd rather pump every two hours day and night but I'm trying to stick it out. On another note on top breastfeeding, I have to give myself shots in the stomach twice a day and it burns and leaves bruises. I'm running out of places to give it. And of course the postpartum blues. Also good days and bad. I know its normal but I'm on the verge of going to the doctor to get on some happy pills. Despite it all it is worth it.

and more pics...

Here's some more pictures of the newest Gerber baby. Sydney is doing great. She had two doctor's appointments this week and between the Tuesday appointment and the Thursday appointment she had gained 3ozs! The nurse had to weigh her again to make sure she had gained that much. Daneen is being a trooper with the whole nursing gig (yet another reason men should be thankful to women for). She appreciated all the nice comments about how good she looked after the delivery but now she'd like to know what everyone thinks.....

Sydney & Sleepy Momma

Big Bro Hard At It

Cutie Pie

Talking To Carson

Sleepy Girl


My Favorite Pic (so far)

Guess that's all for now. Hopefully Daneen will get to feeling better soon so she can let everyone really know what's going on and return some folks phone calls.....

-paul

more pics...

Sydney & Big Bro

Great Grandma Cuca & Sydney

Already helping...

Introducing...

Sydney

Grace
Gerber

Born: 11:50 pm

Weight: 7lbs 3ozs

Length: 19in

Daneen did awesome!!! She only had to push for like 15 minutes and our little cutie was here. She has the cutest little lips and a full head of thick hair! Mommy and Sydney are doing great!! More pics later...

COUNTDOWN.......

Well, Daneen had a check up today and the "midwife" sent her to the hospital since the baby didn't want to move. So now, we are here at the hospital just waiting....

Can you tell she's excited???

The doctor broke her water, she's dilated to a 6 (eww, didn't want to say that), and the epidural is on the way. Keep Daneen and the baby in your prayers!!!

-paul

Things that make me Happy!

Lately I haven't been entertained as much as I would like to be. Meaning, not enough laughs. And its mostly due to the fact that I am in my last month of pregnancy. aka(think of a word). So I'm trying to focus on things that make me happy and laugh a lot.

1. Happy: I'm a 3-4 (if you know what a mean. Baby is on her way)
2. Laugh: Paul got a Wii fit for his birthday. I love watching him do the hula hoop game. So hilarious.
3. Laugh: SNL has been really fun with all their spoofs on the politics and issues.
4. Happy & Laugh: Today I found this on my nieces blog. Its my nephew Jarom and I think he's awesome along with all my nieces and nephews. By the way did I mention I'm gonna be a Great Aunt. Anyway. It totally made my day. Check it out.

"Watch and Learn"

Carson's new saying. I don't know where he picked it up. Anyway I thought I would do a quick update on the whole pregnancy thing and just vent. I'm gonna be 37 weeks and now I have to go to the doctor twice a week for a NST. So pretty much I have to be there an hour and 1/2 every few days. Its irritating. Darn my Leiden Factor 5. This last Tuesday I spoke to much because I ended up with an ultra sound and a Doppler that same day. Paul didn't get to work until almost 3. I was at doctors appts from 8-2. I had told the doctor that the baby didn't seem to be moving as much as usual and that I had leg pain. So of course get the ultrasound and the baby is o.k. thank goodness. They told me she has a ton of hair and she already weighs 6lb 6 oz. Then the Doppler. Well its just like an ultra sound that they do up and down your whole leg to see if you have a blood clot. I had so much of that ultra sound jelly on my legs it was gross. Anyways thats it for now. Paul's grandma is coming next weekend so I'll do my best not to have the baby until then. P.S. I would take a picture of myself to show how big I am but I'm just to depressed about my body right now.

Only Child Benefits

Being the only child for so long has great benefits. Like getting to celebrate your Webkinz birthday. Your mom actually making cup cakes and everybody singing happy birthday. Oh and having your dad help you make him a dog house. Yes we did all that for Carson. I guess it comes naturally to me because I was pretty much an only child, being the baby of the family, and my parents especially my mother went out of her way to do things like that for me. Anyway a funny story. I asked Paul to start making the cup cakes and I come into the kitchen right when he is turning on the blender and the batter goes flying everywhere. He hadn't melted the butter before he put it in. I was laughing because I just didn't know what to say. Luckily the cupcakes turned out good.

Another benefit of being the only child is that your dad goes out of his way not to miss one practice of any kind for you and he stands on the sidelines during all of practice and the games, encouraging you and giving you advice. Carson just got done with flag football. He really liked it but he's a little timid when kids start running at him. But he's got the hang of if for next year. Right now he's doing swim on saturdays and in a week he'll start Soccer.

I wonder...

I can't tell you how many people (moslty family members) tell me "I wonder who she'll look like." In case you can't figure it out were talking about the baby. Well Paul and I have been wondering the same thing.  Who will she look like:

Like Paul?

Again, like Paul?

Or like Me?

I can only pray that my genes will be dominant. Mostly because a lot of people don't realize that Carson is my son. Maybe subconsciously that's why I colored my hair back to brown. But seriously at my last family reunion, and I didn't know this until later, people were wondering who Carson belonged to. Paul wasn't there so ya  I could see why people were wondering. But come on. 

So after some great work done by Paul we came up with this photo of what she might look like. 

Is It Halloween Yet???

That is the question that Daneen will be asking on a regular basis shortly.... But trust me, I have the up most respect for women when it comes to carrying a child for 9 months and then getting to go through the lovely process of labor & delivery. There is NO WAY that I could do that, NO WAY! So yeah, big props to all the moms out there bringing little ones into the world. We owe you! The least we as guys can do is change some dirty diapers and get our better half a bowl of ice cream every now and then...

-paul

p.s. Daneen your looking great, no matter what you think!

Keep Up Gerbers!

So things that we missed to share with you. Carson had an awesome birthday. Well how much fun can you have with just your parents? We took him to Chucky Cheese and bought him two Wii games amongst other things. Do we spoil this kid or what? We probably need to lay off the spoiling or else when we have this other child were gonna go broke. But he loved his presents and everything. Paul really likes playing Carsons Wii games to.

On another note we've been skeptical about our baby really being a girl. How could we get this lucky, right? Well when we got back from AZ Paul and I had been having doubts that our baby was really a girl. But at my last appt. they confirmed it. Relief, because I've been buying lots of girl things. Names. An argument that we have with Carson. Yes I said Carson. If we don't name this baby Sydney then we will have one disappointed boy on our hands. We like the name we are the ones who came up with it but we are open to other options. We want to see what she looks like before we name her. I thought Daneen was a great name but Paul is not having it. To confusing I guess. He's probably right.

Anniversary. So we didn't really celebrate our Anniversary. Which I think was o.k. this year due to the fact that Paul bought me a new bed. King sized. Now we can go all night without saying "scoot over" or "Honey your touching me and its making me hot" Don't take the last one the wrong way. Paul is really like a furnace. Its like sleeping by an oven. But our bed is one that your not suppose to feel the other person move. Its a Simmons. Which comes in handy for Paul because I get up a lot to go to the bathroom. We love it. I can tell this is definitely going to help our marriage. J/K

Vacation. We took another vacation. Well me and Carson did. Paul had to head to Kentucky for two weeks on a work detail so we went with him. We stayed at a State Park Lodge. It reminded my of the place in "Dirty Dancing" because they have activities during the day and we were right on the lake. It was awesome. Carson and I played all day while Paul went to work. Overall we all had fun. We went to see buffalo and other nature places on the weekend. We got pictures of this vacation but not of our anniversary or Carson's birthday. We are lazy.

I love how Paul tries to quote the native Americans in the movie "Dances with Wolves" any time we talk about buffalo. If you can see the baby behind the mom. It was trying to feed and the way it was tugging on its mom's utters made me not want to breast feed.

Carson and I taking a picture by a turkey. We'll see him at Thanksgiving.

The view of the lake at the lodge.

Doing Paul's ultimate favorite thing. Cane pole fishing.

Is this a vacation or what? Part 2

#4 So after AZ and I'm sure some of my fam was ready for me to leave. A quick thank you to all who let me suck up there air conditioning, drove me places, let us eat their food and watch their TV's.(What does it feel like to be homeless but have a great family?) Anywho, Carson, Paul and I headed up to Utah for Destiny's wedding. Mark and Taylor were to kind to give us a lift. Especially with all the potty breaks. And no not for Carson.

They happy couple.

Carson and Whitney

Carson just got hit by a family member. You gotta be tough to be a Gerber.

Probably our last family photo before Baby sister comes.

We had a birthday bash in Utah also except my birthday wasn't included. No hard feelings. (tear) Carson got hooked up again.

A Birthday present from G&G Gerber.

We took a trip to Vernal and went to the Dinosaur Museum. Carson loved it.

This picture explains itself.

Oh and don't let me fail to mention that Carson is so excited to have a baby sister. This is Caroline, (Andrea's baby) so cute. Carson just loved her. I can tell he'll make a great big brother.

#5 One Las Hoorah
After Utah we had to fly back to Phoenix for 3 days before we flew back to Georgia. So Paul got to see my fam. Which I think is great because some of them probably thought I was lying about still being married. They hadn't seen him for a good year and a 1/2. We had a get together for family home evening. We swam and had a cookout. The food was delicious. And it was awesome because mostly everyone came to see us before we left. Thanks.

These are my notorious parents.

All the girls there.

All the boys

And of course Carson the Fish.