Hola!

Well well well, looks who's back blogging and it hasn't been a whole month this time! What do ya think of the new look? I thought my blog was needing a change.

So, this is pretty funny. Jayda is laying here on my chest right now while I'm typing. It's quite interesting trying to type with a baby laying on you, let me tell you. I would of put her down but she has been extra fussy today, I think her teeth have been hurting her. I feel so bad for her. I wish I could do something to make her pain go away, but I know it's just going to be like this for a while. I think the teething rings would work well if she was a bit bigger, but her little mouth is so small they barely fit. Oh well, I guess my fingers and her little fists will have to work for now!

So, I heard today on the news that the Bumbo seats are being recalled! Crazy huh? For those of you who don't know what a Bumbo is...it's just a little seat for babies and toddlers to sit in and it keeps them upright before they have the strength to sit up on their own. I have taken tons of pictures of Jayda in her bumbo that are posted on photobucket. Anyways, they had a number to call on the news so I called it and they basically said that people are using them incorrectly and that they have new warning stickers that you can order. I was like, great thanks, don't think I need the stickers. I looked it up online and apparently babies have fallen out of the seats and been severly injured. They were saying not to put the seats up on an elevated surface. Sooo, I guess I won't be putting Jayda up on the kitchen table to eat with us or up on the counter while I cook anymore! It just kinda stinks now because that means I can only put her on the floor when she's in the bumbo, not cool. Oh well, I definitley wouldn't want her falling out of it, how awful that would be!

Lets see, what else is going on with us? Jacob is winding down his quarter and finals will start a week from this Saturday. So that is no bueno! I guess it couldn't really get any worse than it is now though since he's been in practice court all quarter and basically been studying like he has a final every day anyway! I am so excited for him to be done on Nov. 9th because that means we're coming home to the big town of Hville! Yay! We're so ready to go somewhere! We will be having a birthday party for Jacob's dad on Saturday and having a birthday lunch on Sunday for my dad. I'm just excited to get out of Waco for a little while and to see all of our family. Jacob's oldest brother and his family still have not met Jayda yet, so that will be great to see them. Well, I think that's all for now. Don't forget to check outJayda pics at www.photobucket.com and search for "aubreepaschal", I've got some cute ones up! Later y'all!

Ughhhh, practice court stinks, big time!

So...you may be wondering what the heck is going on with the Paschal's. Yeah, sorry it's been a while since I posted last, I'll try and get better about that.

Well, most of you guys know that Jacob is going through practice court here at Baylor. For those of you who don't, let me just say it is the worst thing in the world and if you've ever thought about coming to law school at Baylor, DON'T!! Go anywhere else! Can you tell I'm a bit bitter about this whole thing? Basically Jacob is either reading or in class about 20 hours everyday! It's absolutely insane! We were talking tonight at dinner, and yes that is the only time that we get to talk each day, and he was saying how everyone is just having such a hard time getting through practice court. He was saying that one of his friends is mad at the world and just really angry at everyone and everything and his other friend is darn near suicidal. It is just crazy! We are so ready for this whole thing to be over and be able to have a normal life again. It will be so nice to get together with friends and family and not worry about the fact that Jacob really needs to be studying instead of doing the fun things that we'd like to do. Ok, I guess that's enough complaining for now.

Now for Jayda news. She is doing very well these days. She's up to over 13 pounds now! She is very active and likes to kick her legs a lot. She loves to stand up while we hold her, she has some strong legs! It's pretty funny now because she kind of stopped cooing. She was cooing all the time at us and the past few weeks she stopped. Now she just looks around at everything and is really curious. I guess she's just taking everything in and trying to figure out her world. Oh, she did laugh for the very first time tonight. She was laying down and Jacob came up to her and started making all kinds of funny sounds and out of nowhere she just busted out laughing. It was the cutest thing! Oh, I almost forgot, Jayda started teething a few weeks ago! Can you believe it?! She's only 3 months and already chomping down on everything in sight. She likes to put both of her thumbs in her mouth and chew on them! Jacob's mom looked in Jacob's baby book the other night and saw that he got his first 2 teeth at 4 months, so...we're thinking she's on the sane track. Pretty crazy huh? She still loves her baths. I had to move her little bath tub into the big bath tub to bathe her, instead of the kitchen counter, because she was kicking and splasing so much water out and soaking our kitchen counter and everything on it! She now has to take vitamins and they are no fun at all! They come in a liquid form and they smell disgusting. I can only guess that they are really nasty becuase everytime I give them to her she makes a terrible face and tries her best to spit them out. So, needles to say it is quite a struggle to get them down every night. Well, I think that is all that is going on with miss Jayda right now. Hope everyone is doing well and hopefully it won't be a month and half before I post something next time!

Back to school!

So Jacob started back to law school this week and it officially stinks! He's in his 3rd year and this is supposed to be the worst year of all at Baylor. And so far I think it's defnitely going to be. The proffesors are assigning so much reading that he is lucky to get 4 hours of sleep, it's usually more like 3! It's just absolutely crazy! Thank goodness we only have to deal with this craziness for 6 months and then his last quarter will be a breeze. Some of you probably already know, but for those who don't, Jacob recently accepted a job with a law firm in Houston. We are so excited that he already has a job lined up and we'll be moving to Houston at the end of next summer. We are so glad that we'll be much closer to all of our family and friends!

Now for Jayda news. She is doing very well. We seem to be getting into more of a routine these days and she's now taking about a 2 hour nap in her crib in the afternoon, so that is really nice. She sleeps pretty good at night, usually waking up every 3 hours or so to eat and then she goes right back to sleep. She either sleeps in her swing or right in the middle of us. This week she started talking a lot! She has discovered her voice and it is the cutest thing ever!! She says things like a-goo, a-eww, a-roo and ooo. She loves to hear herself and when she's in a good mood she usually starts jabbering away. I think she's already taking after her daddy and is going to like to talk a lot just like him! So cute! I think that's about all the excitement going on around our house for now!

Pictures!

Ok, so we've finally given up trying to post pictures on here, but we did find a new way to post them. If you go to www.photobucket.com and then search for "aubreepaschal" you will be able to see our photo album. I think that is going to be the best way for everyone to see pictures of miss Jayda. You don't have to log in or sign up at photobucket, just search my name and it will pull up the pictures. This way we'll get to post a lot more pictures at once instead of just one at a time. Whew, I'm glad we got this all figured out!

So, you may be wondering how Jayda is doing and how we're all adjusting. Sorry for the lapse in postings, things have just been super crazy around here! Jayda is doing great. She sleeps a lot, like any newborn, and likes to talk and coo when she's awake. She especially likes to talk to her monkey. It is the cutest thing ever! She loves to be held, a lot, and is starting to get used to sleeping on her own in her bassinet and crib. She still sleeps between the 2 of us at night, however we did get her to sleep in her swing last night! That was so nice! She also loves her baths. Even if she is screaming and crying before we put her in the bath, she stops and becomes so content. Hopefully she'll be a little water baby like her mommy was! Besides taking care of Jayda I have just been hanging out with Jacob enjoying our time together before he starts back to school. I got to start working out last week, so I am soooo excited about that! I can't wait to get all this baby fat off! Jacob is just starting to get ready for his 3rd year of law school. He has started reading already for his 1st day assignments, no fun! Well I guesst that's all for now!

Trying to post pictures

Just wanted you guys to know that we are trying to post pictures of Jayda, but for some reason it's not working. Hopefully we'll have them up soon!

Home at Last!

We finally made it home yesterday (Fri. July 27) after being in the hospital since Monday (July 23). Four nights in a hospital with minimal sleep is rough. However, finally meeting our baby girl made the hospital stay tolerable. She is beautiful and we love her to death!

It started on Monday when we went to the hospital at 2:00 p.m. so that Aubree could have a balloon put in to help get the labor started. The balloon caused cramping but the cramping didn't last for too long. That night Aubree and I hardly slept because we were so excited (and it's difficult to sleep in a hospital). The nurses woke Aubree up at 4:00 a.m. on Tues morning so that she could take a shower before they started the medicine that would make the contractions really start. The nurses started the medicine at 5:00 a.m. The contractions started but they weren't too bad (by the way, I keep saying that this stuff wasn't that bad but bear in mind that this is merely my perspective and Aubree would probably say I have no idea what they were like). Anyways, at 8:00 a.m Dr. Micus came and broke Aubree's water. Due to the balloon and the medicine she was already at a 4. Everything looked really good. Dr. Micus said that Aubree could have an epidural whenever she was ready. After her water was broke, the contractions started getting really bad. Aubree was in a lot of pain and she decided that she was ready for the epidural. Aubree was nervous about getting the epidural but the pain was so bad that she was ready to do whatever it took to get the pain to stop. After the epidural she felt much better. Apparently the anesthesiologist is a favorite among the laboring mothers since he takes their pain away and Aubree was no exception. She gratefully thanked him for the medicine. Our parents (Papa, Nana, Oma, and Oupa) were able to come in and visit for a little while. We watched a movie and talked as the contractions continued without Aubree feeling them. She progressed to a 5 sometime in the afternoon. Later she made it to a 6 but she was progressing much slower. At 7:00 p.m. Dr. Micus told us that Aubree was still at a 6 and that she was probably going to have to do a c-section. She said that she would wait a couple of hours longer to see if Aubree would progress farther but she didn't think waiting would help. Aubree did not want a c-section but it seemed she had no choice. So, she decided to not wait any longer and to go ahead with the c-section. To make matters worse her epidural started to wear off and she could feel the contractions again. Aubree said it was the worst pain ever. She couldn't get anymore medicine until they got her in the operating room. I came to the operating room after they got Aubree ready and sat with her as they did the operation. At this point I must say to those of you betting against me that I did not pass out during the epidural or during the c-section. Jayda was born at 8:00 p.m. on the dot on July 24 of 2007.

When she came out she was making noises but not really crying. I was able to walk over and see her and she looked very pretty. We knew something was wrong when they said they had to take her to the nursery instead of bringing her to Aubree so that she could see. They said that she was having trouble breathing. I stayed with Aubree as they finished sewing her back up. Afterwards I went to see Jayda in the nursery. They put Jayda under a bubble to help her breathe. Since Aubree had yet to see Jayda, I took a picture to show Aubree. Aubree was moved to a room for the night and Jayda had to stay in the nursery. The on-call pediatrician came to see Jayda. They ran many different tests to make sure everything was alright. During the night they slowly turned down the oxygen to see how she would do on her own. She responded well and sometime early in the morning on Wed. they turned the oxygen completely off. I spent this night going back and forth between Aubree's room and the nursery to check on Jayda. This was a very scary night spent praying that everything was going to be alright.

By the morning Jayda was off the oxygen and all the tests had come back positive. The nurses thought she should be able to come to our room soon, however, they had to wait on our pediatrician's approval. On Wed. morning about 9:00 Aubree was able to go down to the nursery to see Jayda for the first time (other than the pictures and videos that I had been bringing to her). Around lunch time on Wed. our pediatrician checked Jayda out and cleared her to come to our room. We were very excited to finally have her with us. Jayda still had to get antibiotics through an IV every so often. Both Aubree and Jayda were getting checked out all the time.

Getting a baby to breast feed doesn't sound like it would be a hard thing to do. Unfortunately, it is more difficult than it sounds at least at first. Most of Wed. afternoon and night were spent trying to get her to eat. Wed. night was much better having both Aubree and Jayda in the room. Once again we got little sleep but at least this time we had our little girl with us. Thurs afternoon we finally got the whole breast feeding thing working. Ever since then Jayda has been going to town. Thurs. also offered some memorable first time diaper experiences that we will never forget. Thurs. we also found out that Jayda had a mild case of jaundice. They told us that so long as it didn't get any worse the jaundice was not a problem and was common in many babies. Thurs. in the middle of the night (about 2:00 am - so I guess technically Fri. morning) Jayda's IV where they were giving her antibiotics came out and we were told they were going to have to put a new one in. Thankfully, they decided that she didn't really need anymore antibiotics and were going to wait until the morning to see if it was alright with the doctor to leave it out. Aubree and I both felt so bad that the poor girl had so many tests, IVs, etc.

Friday the pediatrician came by and said that Jayda was looking really good and that she could go home. Dr. Micus also cleared Aubree to go home. I was so happy not to have to spend another night in a cramped hospital room trying to sleep on a fold out chair with a mattress that was made in the 1970's (the mattress literally felt so bad that I contemplated sleeping on the floor instead).

Friday afternoon we packed our room to go home. We had accumulated a lot more than I thought in a 4 day period, not to mention a new baby. Anyways, Jayda cried when we put her in her car seat but enjoyed the car ride home. Aubree sat in the back with her to keep her company on the ride home. We finally made it home Friday around 1:00 p.m. It was very nice to be home. Since then we have been adjusted to trying to catch up on sleep and adjusting to life as a 3 person two dog family.

More posts to come on life with a newborn.

-Jacob

Finally!!!

Yay, I got a call from my dr. this morning saying that she has an opening tomorrow, Tuesday, July 24th to induce me!! I am so excited because originally I was not supposed to be induced until Thursday the 26th. Anyways, Jacob and I will be headed up to the hospital today at 2:00 to get everything going and set up. Wish us luck and your prayers would definitely be appreciated!