Business Time

Donovan's interview attire in case any job opportunities should arise in the next few months.


A little big but he'll grow into it.

Elvis face

"Thank ya, thank ya very much" (to be read in your best Elvis voice)

Bath time

Donovan Post: Hi guys, mommy is busy so I thought I would post some pictures of my first bath. I have had two so far and I hate them! Down with bath time!

About to start the bath, is this going to be enjoyable?


Oh nooooooo!!!! I hate this! (So I peed on dad at this point).


Wait a sec, this hair washing feels pretty good.


Keep shampooing mom, I like it!


Mommy working hard to get me clean. It's a good thing I like some part of this bath, otherwise I might poop on them to show them what I think!

First Doctors visit

We had our first visit to the doctors office today. Donovan passed with flying colors. He measured in at 21 and a quarter inches, head circumfrence of 14 and a quarter inches and weight of 7lbs 12.5 oz. The doctor was especially happy with his weight, as he left the hospital at 7lbs 12oz and babies usually continue to lose weight for the first week or so. So that means he is getting enough milk and is growing wonderfully. She said we are doing a "great job" with him and are learning all his cues. He has a little jaundice, but nothing abnormal so she expects it to go away very soon. Our next visit will be in one week, and then in one month and at 2 months. Hopefully we get this great of news everytime. Tom was especially excited because she commented that his fingers are so long, which apparently means he is going to be a guitar (dad's vote) or piano (my vote) player. But right now I would just settle for a baby that waits more than 1 hour between most feedings. As I type this he is sleeping on my lap and he has been asleep for almost 5 hours now, ever since the doctors visit. I think we should take him to the doctor's everyday if he is going to sleep like this, preferably at about 9 or 10 pm. Off to wake him for his feeding (I can't believe I just wrote that).

Somebody had an accident

Take a look at Auntie Jenna's shorts.


Closer look.


Another angle.


And the culprit is.....

Jenna was holding Donovan on her lap last night and felt something "warm". This was the result of a leaky diaper. And since Donovan does not discriminate, he later peed on his daddy. Such a nice young man to spread the love.

Day 3 and random pictures

We have been home with Donovan for almost a full day now and so far so good. I thought I would be more freaked out than I was about going to sleep with him not being constantly watched by a nurse in the nursery but I think I did pretty good. That is if you conside sleeping with the light and my glasses on so I could open my eyes and see him at all times. Overall he probably let me get about 4 hours of sleep. I have already made my request for a nap or two today so we will see how that goes.
So far feeding is also going really well. My milk is on it's way in and he has really gotten the hang of everything. The only thing now is that he thinks he needs to eat every 2 hours instead of the 3 hour schedule we were on at the hospital. So my new goal is to get back to the 3 hour feeding times.
I always thought that your household became louder when you welcomed a baby home but for us it has been the exact opposite. Tom and I are people that like to have the tv on constantly, if for nothing else it serves as background noise. But ever since Donovan has been here, the only time we have turned the tv on is for the cardinals game. Donovan has brought the art of conversation back into our lives. He is just so entertaining and perfect, all you want to do is stare at him and talk about him. We are constantly entertained by everthing he does as well. He likes to make funny faces and stick out his tongue, and he is a very sneezy (always two in a row for him), burpy and tooty kid so he is constantly giving us something to giggle at. Last night while I was burping him in the middle of a feed he sneezed and milk came out of his nose. Tom and I got a big kick out of that.
Tom has been doing a good job adjusting to fatherhood as well. They like to snuggle chest to chest (as seen in the last photo) and for a someone that had never changed a diaper until yesterday, Tom is doing well in that department. Donovan has managed to poop on two onsies as dad has been changing him but dad will learn, you gotta be quick.
Below are some pictures from the hospital and one of us at home. The hospital stay was short and sweet and we were lucky to have lots of friends and family come visit us. Many of them came bearing gifts, including St Louis Cardinals gear. As you can see in the pictures, Donovan couldn't wait to try on his new hat (he got 2 already) even though he has some time before it fits him. And Tom is plenty proud of Donovan as the Cardinals record since the 22nd has been 3-0, which he attributes to Donovan's good luck.


Our postpartum room decorated by the L&D ladies I am sure


Probably my favorite picture of Donovan to date. He is so alert in it.


Winking because he knows he is the cardinals lucky charm.


Another cute one of him in his new STL hat.


Father and son "watching" the cardinals game. Ok so Daddy watched in and son slept through it but he was rooting them on in his dreams we could tell.

More Pics!

DAD POST! I know I'm late getting these up, but we've had several visitors today and I finally got around to making these pictures small enough to post through this crummy internet connection. Also, I've been busy staring at the boy. I mean, I never got it when people were all crazy about babies, but now that it's mine I get it. All he does is make some noises and move around a little, but he does it cuter and better than all those other babies out there so I love to stare! Anyway, here's the pictures:
Here's mom and Donovan right after delivery.

And another of mom and Donovan.

My big, strong boy gettin' warmed up after he was born.

This is where Donovan gets his striking good looks and luscious lips from.

The whole birthin' crew!

He has arrived!

Yesterday April 22nd 2009 at 9:43pm Donovan Charles Qualls made his debut into the world! He weighs 8lbs 1oz and is 20 inches long. So far he is a pretty laid back baby and is doing wonderfully! I am already so in love with him, I can barely take my eyes off of him when he is around. This is not official but I am pretty sure he is the best baby ever, and definitely the cutest. I will write more about the labor and such and how this came to be his birthday later, but I just wanted to write a quick note and let everyone know that we are all happy and healthy and doing well. The internet connection here at the hospital is really slow so we might have to wait until we go home tomorrow to post more than this one picture (I have spent the last hour trying to download more and it isn't working out) so keep checking back. Tom thinks he might be able to figure out how to post more before tomorrow so we may get some up sooner rather than later, but no promises. Thank you everyone for your prayers, it must have done the trick!

Hoffman wedding

Yesterday we had the pleasure of celebrating the marriage of one of Tom's best friends from grade school, Kris Hoffman to Lynn Dulle. It was a long but very fun day. Everything went off without a hitch and the wedding and reception could not have been more beautiful. The day was pretty rainy but they managed to get some good picturs inside regardless, plus rain on your wedding day is supposed to be good luck. Here are some pictures from the day.
The happy couple.


My honey and the bride's sister.


Husband and wife of almost 2 years.


Tom and his high school friends and their mothers recreating "mom prom" pictures.


The four best friends from high school and the wives.

39.1 weeks along

Very pregnant and rooting on the blues.

No news is.....good news?

I am officially 39 weeks pregnant today. I had my doctors appointment this morning and basically everything is the same. Cervix still holding steady, baby still doing well, I'm still gaining weight, what else is there to say. A whole lotta boring. Meanwhile I am getting more and more uncomfortable. I got some samples at the Dr's for a medicine that is supposed to help my heartburn so hopefully that will get better soon.

On a seprate note, I did find out that picking people up after they have had their wisdom teeth taken out is my new favorite hobby. I was Jenna's (my sister) ride to and from her surgery today and afterwards she was pretty hilarious. I could not stop laughing at her trying to figure out what was going on. The only disapointing thing was that I did not have a video camera to capture all of her confusion. It would have been great to have on hand when I am having a bad day. She was a good sport about it though and is doing very well. Hopefully I bounce back after having a baby as fast as she is bouncing back from having 2 teeth taken out.

Please keep us in your prayers these last few days (dare I say weeks?) that we have a healthy baby, mom and delivery sometime soon. Until then we will be trying to be patient and enjoy our last few days as a twosome.

Torturing our son

Until this baby arrives, Tom and I only have Petey to entertain us. And entertain us he does. One thing we like to do is try out baby stuff on him. He has been put in the baby's crib on several different occasions, he was sitting on the "birthing ball" with me the other day, and he would really like to try out the baby's toys/stuffed animals. He mostly hates when we make him try out the baby stuff but the other day topped them all. Tom and I were hanging out in the basement and I looked over at our already assembled jump-a-roo and decided that Petey would like to try it out. Petey thought otherwise but as it turns out, I am a lot bigger than him so I usually get my way. He resisted when I was trying to drop him down into the seat, which was pretty amusing but eventually I got his legs off the edge and into the seat. We only had him in the jump-a-roo for a total of 2 minutes, just long enough for Tom and I to roll around laughing at him and to take several pictures, but he hated every second of it. He looked very cute in it, his bottom legs were crossed like a perfect little gentleman, and he had a death grip on the toys to balance himself but he was shaking the entire time. Don't let the open mouth/tongue out in the pictures fool you, he was in shaking in fear and not smiling in joy from his predicament. Here is the proof of our doggy abuse.

Benefits of being a twosome

So just when I am getting down about not having a baby to hold yet God decides to let me know that he's got it all under control. Today I had a very productive day, did 3 loads of laundry (including one of only baby things), put said laundry away (my least favorite part), finished all my thank you notes, cleaned up a little around the house and took a nice nap. All of these things would have been much more difficult with a new born. Then the highlight of the day came when Tom and I decided to go to dinner. We headed to Joe's Crab shack for some non meat dinner only to find it was closed! So our back up was Red Lobster and judging from the parking lot we knew it was going to be a long wait. Tom dropped me off and as I walked into the doors I saw that the entire place was packed. As I passed this guy waiting I thought he told me the wait was going to be 45 min, so I asked if that was true and he said "Oh I bet its more like 2 hours now". I decided to tempt fate anyway and see what the hostess had to say. The family in front of me was a family of 6 and needed a highchair for the baby and were told it would be an hour and a half. Yikes! By the time I got to the hostesses Tom caught up with me and she told me for a table of 2 the wait would be 25 minutes. Score! So they gave us a pager and as we were walking to the bar to wait she says "Or we have a table right now, are you ready?". Jackpot! I only felt a twinge of guilt as we weaved our way though everyone but I got over it quickly. Only after we were sitting did I realize that this was all due to the fact that we are only a twosome and not a family of 3 or 4 yet. So God says "You are disappointed you didn't make any change yesterday? Well hows about I take care of you for dinner tomorrow and let you enjoy your dinner with plenty of time to get home and watch the blues game?" Deal. So I realize that it is only going to be the two of us for a short time now and we should enjoy this time that we have together until the baby arrives. God is so smart.

38 week check up

Happy 38 weeks to me! Today I had my 38 week check up and I managed to talk Tom into coming with me as he was complaining about being "totally bored" at work today and I thought he might be a good luck charm. He wasn't. Still only 1 cm dilated. Boooo. I thought for sure after all the contractions this past week I would be at least 2 if not 3 cms. Why o' why am I contracting so often and not getting any closer to delivery? I contract anywhere from every 2-3 minutes to only 5-6 an hour so they are very random and they don't hurt so that is ok too but they are annoying if they aren't really doing anything. They make me go to the bathroom more often then I would normally have to go and it makes my heartburn worse when I have them. So here is hoping for some better news next week. Or actually, here is to hoping we don't have to go to next weeks appointment because we are parents!

What is 3 hours and 45 minutes?

The new record for length of time between potty breaks at night time. It was last night will probably will remain the record until after delivery. Usually I am lucky if I get 2 hours. Last night is definitely going in the win column!

37 weeks on the dot

We are term!

Yeay for us, we made it! We are 37 weeks along exactly today which means our baby is officially full term. I had a doctors appointment today and things are going really well. Blood pressure is still good, still gaining appropriate weight (2 lbs in one week, yikes!), and baby is growing nicely. The best news is that from last week to this one I have dilated one cm. Only 9 more to go and then a baby can fit out! I am still contracting but I have been since 28wks so I am not getting to excited about going into labor soon.

I am starting to understand why the third trimester gets a bad rap from women. Lately I have been getting horrible heartburn at night, which makes it uncomfortable to lay down. Worse than that I have been having "crazy legs" as I like to call them, which means that I have to constantly move my legs when I am laying down trying to sleep becuase they never feel comfortable. Then add going to the bathroom at least every 2 hours and needless to say I have not been getting good sleep. Tom thinks the constant waking up for potty breaks are God's way of making me practice getting up so often for breast feeding after the baby arrives. I just think its annoying. I don't want to practice, I just want one last good night's sleep.

I am currently charging up the batteries for our camera and video camera so have no fear, when baby Q decides to enter this world, the paparazzi will be there. Don't worry, they will be edited for the public before they are posted. This ain't no national geographic show.

Only 3 weeks left!