September 29, 2009 by Dad.

We are celebrating Etienne’s first week - already - and he still has not reached his due date ( tomorrow - 09/30/2009 ).

I can not imagine a whole week has already passed !! The biggest bummer is that I have to go back to work tomorrow and have had little one on one time with the little guy because I have had to drive Cezanne around to all her appointments… ( School, Gymnatics, Playgroup etc )

We’ll be drinking a toast today, if you need and excuse, join us

Cheers Etienne, congratulations on making it through your first week !!

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September 27, 2009 by Dad.

Sunday we just had to get out and do a little shopping for the few things we did not already have in the house for the baby…

Lanelle dressed the little man in the following outfit for his first trip out that did not involve a doctors visit or a stop at the hospital

Ouma, Cezanne Etienne	Dressed to…	…rock & roll ! Is he playing air guitar ?	Happiness with 1 eye open

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September 26, 2009 by Dad.

We called the doctor this morning to make Etienne’s first appointment with the pediatrician but after a discussion about his color again, decided to call back to ask if we could bring him in for a check up since the nurse at the hospital said we should just monitor his color. Turns out we were not crazy, he was a little Jaundice and we were instructed to take him back to the hospital for a blood test. The little guy did well, crying when then drew the 5 drops of blood from his heel, but a little soothing from Mommy and he was all better.

When we got home the doctor called to let us know that test results showed that he was within the acceptable range and that we need not worry but that we should come back to the office later next week for a weight check. His stats from the doctor visit were 9lbs 3oz ( same weight he left the hospital ) and he grew 1/4 of an inch since birth !

Later Etienne and Cezanne got some face time with Mommy - see below

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September 25, 2009 by Dad.

We got a nice quiet day at home, Cezanne went off to school and while we were a little tired, the first night at home was not too bad.

Etienne is settling in nicely but later in the day when we looked at photos we started to wonder about his yellow coloring especially when we did the side by side comparison with Cezanne… We decided to call the doctor first thing Saturday and ask about it…

Here is a photo wall for those who want a bit more Etienne is you day !

Left Hand	Holding Hands	Just laying down…
The feet that kicked	Coo Chee Coo	Ek gaan jou bliksem !
Boy grips Mother	Holding on to Mom	Got your thumb !
Chilling with Dad	1 more ounce please !

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September 25, 2009 by Dad.

Being “normal” parents we just had to start comparing the new guy to the old girl…

We found that from our friends that just could not get enough from one child and ended up with (at least) one more, about half ended up producing a carbon copy ( at least initially ) while the other half got a completely different specimen the second time around… We had been wondering what pool we would end up in and so eager as we are about such things we had to do a “side-by-side”

Here are photos of both at about the same age ( 4 - 5 days old ).

Decide for yourself - do they look like one another or not ?

Etienne is at the top and Cezanne is at the bottom, for those of you who could not tell…

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September 25, 2009 by Dad.

By 8am on Thursday, Lanelle was ready to come home and by 10:30am both Mommy & Baby were able to leave, but of course Cezanne ( the big sister ) had gymnastics so they had to wait a little bit. Finally after gymnastics and being dropped off at aunty Daleen’s house for playgroup, Dad was able to come and fetch the boy and his mother.

Lanelle and I shared a sandwich and packed up all the gear before heading out. It took so long that we decided to just head over to Daleen and fetch Cezanne.

Lanelle & Etienne, ready to leave the hospital !
Eyes open…	…just checking…	…who are you ???
Fast asleep in my car seat after arriving home.

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September 23, 2009 by Dad.

After making his entry into the world Etienne got a chance to meet his big sister, Cezanne.

She was fairly gentle with him, but will need to be reminded that he is still very small and that she must be careful…

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September 22, 2009 by Dad.

…not as much “fun” as the first time.

We arrived at the hospital at around 7am and checked in but it took the poor nurse a long time to find a good straight vein to put Lanelle’s IV in. She really tried but it hurt Lanelle a lot and so finally she got another nurse to try again. Finally after about an hour and a half, Lanelle was hooked up and the IV was flowing and the Pitocin was dripping, the contractions started almost immediately.

After an hour or so I had to leave to take Cezanne to her gymnastics class where I left her with Ouma & Oupa and Aunty Daleen would fetch them and take them home after the class. I rushed back to the hospital to find that our doctor had broken Lanelle’s water but that we were still a good few hours from actually delivering the baby.

Finally the pain of the contractions got to a point where Lanelle asked for her Epidural and once that was in Lanelle was a much happier Mommy, she again got a chance to sleep for a while in between all the checkups.

I had pizza for lunch in the room with Lanelle and then by 3pm we both felt bored and said it was time for the baby to come out. When the nurse checked Lanelle she was ready and in fact so ready that the nurse had to tell Lanelle to not push at all. We could already see his head, again with a bunch of black hair, just like with Cezanne.

Lanelle held back as best she could, and they paged the doctor and when he arrived at about 3:40pm and check Lanelle he said she could start trying to push but the real pushing only started around 3:45pm and at 3:50pm ( a whole 5 minutes later ) he burst forth into this world. The doctor was fantastic - clearly a professional - he worked that baby out with minimal strain on both Mommy and baby.

Born September 22, 2009

Etienne Caelan Lambert - 9lbs 8oz - 21 inches 

He had a bit of fluid that he needed to work out so they gave him to Lanelle to hold briefly before getting started on clearing his mouth and nose and he was very blue - like a little smurf, but he soon warmed up and the blood and oxygen made its way to his huge hands and feet - maybe a boxer or catcher or something - his hands are almost the same size as Cezanne’s !

We moved to the after birth suite which was more of a shoebox but Mommy and Baby are in excellent shape and hope to get a good nights rest while I take care of the crowd here at home.

Here are some of the photos from today !

Etienne & Lanelle	Lanelle & Etienne	Eyes Open !
Etienne being checked by the nursery under the heat lamps before bath time…
The first bath. Not so happy with the body wash, but oh did I love the washing of the hair…

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September 22, 2009 by admin.

Well this is where it begins, before the first cry and before the first feeding and before the first dirty diaper…

With number 2 everything is the same and everything is different when compared to number 1.

This post officially launches our blog for our first and only son.

Mother, Lanelle, induced on September 22, 2009

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