Finally...an update

Sorry it's taken so long to post an update. You'd think we have a new baby or something that keeps us pretty busy! Things are going well. I (Brett) went back to work on the 19th. It's hard being away from Andy all day. I'm so grateful that Lindsay is going to stay home with him. It's also great that I am able to go to work early in the morning and then get home around 4:30. Lindsay's mom (Andy's Mimi) was here the week I went back to work - which was a great help (again). She and Lindsay's dad (Andy' Papa) even took us to Jack Stack BBQ - it was Andy's first time going to a BBQ restaurant. He had A LOT of fun - just slept the whole time.

Andy went to his new doctor on the 19th. Lindsay and her mom said he (the doctor) was awesome. The doctor said everything was great and Andy doesn't have to go back for another month or so - I think.

It's amazing how quickly Andy changes. He is really focusing on things now. Obviously, he loves to stare at his mom and dad. He also likes his "Easter Monkey" that his Mimi got him. And he sometimes stares at his books when you read them to him. He was only about 3 weeks old when he would turn his head if you rattled a toy next to him. And, when he's on his tummy, he is already lifting his head up; he can lift himself up and turn from one side to the other. When we hold him on our shoulder, he turns his head and looks all around.

He's getting pretty big. He is over 9 lbs now. He still loves to be held, but at the same time doesn't mind being alone. Sometimes when he's fussing, it turns out if you set him by himself, he calms down. Guess he doesn't want to be held all the time. He's sleeping ok - wakes up about every 2.5 to 3 hours to eat. Lindsay and I got really excited on Wednesday night because he set a new record and went about 4.5 hours between feedings. But, he's getting us back today. He's been eating about every hour and a half today. Must be going through a little growth spurt.

He took his first trip to Jimmy John's and Target this week. Jimmy John's is Lindsay and my FAVORITE sandwich place. Seriously, everybody needs to eat there if they can find one.

He also continues to pee on me. I don't know if Lindsay is better at protecting herself or if Andy just likes her more, but he seems to mainly pee on me. He's gotten me about 4 times in the last two days. AND, a few days ago, he really had it in for me. I was feeding him after work and he spit up all over my shirt, which is strange because he rarely spits up. Then, he peed on me when I was changing him a little while later. THEN, at about 11:00 that night, I was burping him and he spit up and it ran down my back (I didn't have a shirt on) and into the back of my shorts. He is a pretty funny guy.

Today is Andy's 4 week birthday. We'll get a good picture of him later to post on here. Maybe I can get Lindsay to do a comparison shot again. It's so amazing how fast he's growing. And Lindsay and I think his eyes are starting to turn kind of blue.

Ok, there's my update for now. Here are some other pictures. Be sure to check out our Yahoo Photos site for more.

more pictures

I've uploaded more pictures. I haven't had time to update the blog, though. Soon - I promise. Check out the pictures website.

coming soon...

I'm sorry I haven't updated the blog in a while. Tomorrow night I plan to upload new pictures and post to the blog. Thanks for your patience!

For your entertainment

Here are a couple quotes from today:

Brett - "Let's just let a dying horse lay."

Lindsay - "Brett! It's seven o'clock. I want a cake before nine!"

note: these quotes were said at separate times during the day.

Uncle Cory

Today Andy got to meet his Uncle Cory. We were hoping Andy would leave a little "surprise" in his diaper for Cory, but he didn't. He was nice enough to be awake almost the whole time Cory was here. Ginger was the most excited of anybody to see Cory. She would not leave him alone. Lindsay's parents came back to town this evening. Her mom is going to stay part of the week. I head back to work on Monday, so it will be good for Lindsay to have the extra help.

Comparison Picture

Here's a cool picture Lindsay made.

Luttrell grandparents with Andy

I got a few pictures from my mom today. Here are a few from the day they came up and met Andy. He was one day old in these pictures. I've put more on the photos website. Enjoy.

Happy two week birthday!

Today is Andy's two week birthday. It's strange to think that just yesterday was his due date. He's doing good. We are trying to be very grateful that he is such a laid-back baby. He doesn't really fuss ever, except when he's getting hungry. And he's pretty complacent when we set him down to do something. We hope he continues to be this easy. He's getting more alert and strong every day. It's a pretty amazing thing. He focuses on things so much now. And he holds his head up quite a bit. If you are holding him against you to burp him and he decides he's done, he throws his head to the side to slide down so he's laying in your arms. He's so smart. Ok, enough doting for now. Here are a couple pictures we took to commemorate his two week birthday.

Historic Items

Here are a few pictures of Andy. He's wearing the outfit that I (Brett) wore home from the hospital when I was a baby. He's laying in a cradle that has been in my family for generations (I think at least 4, maybe 5 generations).

Here I am in the same outfit. As you can see, I was really enjoying having Curt hold me.

Here are just a few other pictures.

Andy's first picnic

We took Andy on his first picnic today. It was almost 80 degrees outside, so it was really nice. He had a GREAT time. Well, a great time sleeping. The dog came along, too. She probably had the most fun. It's amazing how much she loves the baby. And she isn't jealous at all. She doesn't get to close to Andy, she' just lay near him to protect him. And if one of his blankets is left laying somewhere, she will lay on it as much as she can. The other day, there was another dog in front of our apartment when I took her outside and she barked at him like he was going to attack us.

Anyways, here are some pictures from our picnic. Check out more along with lots of other pictures on our photo website.

What to wear?

Take note, just because clothes are labeled "newborn," doesn't mean they are the right size for a newborn. Andy had a very cute going home outfit from Baby Gap. Here is Andy in his original outfit he was going to come home from the hospital in.

So, Lindsay's parents had to go find something else for him to come home in. I think they did a pretty good job.

And here is Andy getting ready to go to his first doctor's appointment. As you can see, it took Lindsay and her mom to get him all dressed up.

Little jaundice Andy

Just thought I'd share a little bit about Andy being jaundice for a while. He had lots of fun. The nurses said that because his head was so bruised from delivery, they all expected him to get jaundiced. And he did. While we were in the hospital, his bilirubin level went from 13 to 13.9. They had him under the double lamp in the hospital. Or his little tanning bed as we called it. The jaundice is why they kept him in the hospital an extra day. They wanted him to get the phototherapy at the hospital as long as possible.

They sent us home with a "bili-bed" when we left the hospital. It was a little blue light bed that he had to lay on as much as possible to help break down the bilirubin in his blood. they followed up on Tuesday and his level had increased to a 17.9. On Wednesday,his level increased again to 19. So, more intense therapy was needed. So they got us a "Wallabey," which is a little light we put on his front while the bilibed shined on his back. I have no idea why it was called a wallabey. On Thursday, his level dropped drastically to an 11 and he was able to get off all the lights. It was a very exciting day because we finally got to hold him all the time!

Andy's story

Sorry I haven't updated the blog much since Andy was born. We've been pretty busy. After being home a little over a week, I feel like things are getting pretty under control. Lindsay's mom was here all last week, which was GREAT. Those first days at home would have been extra difficult without her. And Andy really liked getting to spend some time with his Mimi. Especially once he got done with all his apparatuses and could actually be held.

So here is Andy's story. As you know, his due date was March 15th. It's weird that the 15th is tomorrow. We had an ultrasound scheduled for the morning of March 1st, to see how big he was. He had been measuring a few weeks ahead most of the pregnancy. Prior to the 1st, Lindsay had been scheduled to be induced on Monday the 5th. So, we had our ultrasound at 9:00 on the 1st. They estimated he weighed about 8lbs 2oz. After the ultrasound, Lindsay's doctor saw her for just a minute. Lindsay was dilated 4 cm (she had been 2 cm for a few weeks already) She took Lindsay's blood pressure and it was pretty high. It had been that way for a couple of weeks. So her doctor sent us over to Labor and Delivery at the hospital for Lindsay's blood pressure to be monitored for a couple of hours to see if it went back down. This was routine for us, as I think this was our 4th time for Lindsay to be monitored. Well, this time her blood pressure didn't go down, so they decided to go ahead and induce Lindsay that day rather than wait until Monday.

At 1:00 they started the pitocin, which is the medicine they give to start labor. Within 20 minutes Lindsay was having regular contractions - about every 2-3 minutes.

At about 6:00, the on-call doctor came over and broke Lindsay's water. Following that her contractions got REALLY BAD!! She had these contractions for about an hour before they got the epidural in. It started working within about 10 minutes. I believe Lindsay's exact words were, "The epidural is a beautiful thing." Lindsay's labor continued to progress on its own, and they didn't use the pitocin anymore after they started the epidural.

Lindsay continued having contractions and at about 1:00am on Friday morning (3/2) she was 9 cm dilated. She started pushing at about 1:20 am. One of Lindsay's fears with the epidural was that she would feel her contractions to push on her own. Well, it worked great and she was still able to feel the pressure from the contractions, but not the pain. At 3:51 am, after 2.5 hours of pushing, little Anderson Brett was born.

Because he had kind of a rough delivery, he was sent to the neonatal intensive care nursery (NICU). He was there for about hours before we got to bring him to see Lindsay. Unfortunately, he swallowed quite a bit of blood during delivery also and choked a few times, so they had to take him back to the NICU. He really didn't get to spend much time with us other than for feedings until we took him home on Monday (3/5). Lindsay was discharged on Sunday, but they allowed us to stay that night at the hospital so we could be with him and continue to do all his feedings.

That's his birth in a nutshell. He had a rough start, but he's a strong boy.

Little squirt gun update

In case anybody was wondering, Andy still likes to squirt us with pee while being changed. He got his mom good today. Check out the nice spot on Lindsay's shirt.

Anderson 10 - Dad 1

For anybody that was wondering, whenever Andy's diaper is off, he likes to take the opportunity to pee EVERYWHERE. But, he doesn't do it when you're looking; he waits for the one second when you've turned your head to grab the replacement diaper or a wipe. I still haven't mastered the art of covering him with a washcloth while he's being changed. I put it down there, but he manages to wiggle it off and spray pee everywhere! So far, I've had one successful time when the washcloth diverted the stream and he had a diaper underneath him to catch the pee. His changing table pad is in the laundry for about the fourth time since he came home. We thought having two covers would be enough, but it turns out as soon as he pees on one, he'll decide that the next diaper change would be good time to go into action again. But I'm learning...the first time it happened in the hospital he sprayed a good three feet across the room. He's only managed to get it on my hands, his own body, his Mimi, and the changing table recently. For some reason his mom hasn't really experienced the little fountain. I hope that's not indicative of anything.

Lessons learned:
-always have the new diaper ready to go before removing the old diaper
-always keep a diaper underneath him to soak up anything he does while being changed
-unfold the washcloth before draping it over him to provide maximum coverage
-babies scream when you have to wipe pee off their whole body with a cold wipe
-a screaming baby will get mom up and out of bed REALLY fast
-it's somehow cute when they pee all over themselves, the changing table, the dresser, and the wall
-even when he just soaked your hands and shirt (and almost your face) in pee, you still love him and think he's the cutest thing ever

Anderson Brett Luttrell

Anderson was born on March 2, 2007 at 3:51 am. He weighed 7 lb 15.5 ouces and was 18 3/4 inches long. He came home from the hospital on Sunday. He's doing pretty good. He's still getting over his jaundice. He has a "bili-bed" which is a little light bed he lies on all day, except when he's feeding. I'll post more later about everything. Follow the "Our Photos" link at the right to see some pictures.