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My first (at home) "bath" and more photos

The other night while Stephen rescued Nana from Savannah's relentless whining, crying and newfound love of the word "No!", Nana helped me give Gage his first sponge bath. It was a success! His umbilical cord stump is still attached (Savannah's took 6 WEEKS!!! to finally fall off), therefore, it's sponge baths until it finally comes off. I'm also VERY HAPPY to say that Vaseline and gauze are no longer part of the diaper changing process...woohoo! It really wasn't near as bad as I expected. Thank goodness for the medical pad "thingys" Susana gave us since Vaseline doesn't absorb water (a.k.a. urine), but repels it to every place other than the diaper! We keep one in his crib at all times and one on the diaper changing station since we were washing all 3 of our Ultimate Crib Sheets everyday.

I'm having fun with my 24/7 model on hand and gaining more and more experience photographing newborns. What fun! He's an excellent model...I just need to keep working on learning this digital SLR contraption! My mom is a terrific assistant! I'm also working on our Christmas card which in years past we have outsourced to Shutterfly, but this year, I'm doing them!!! I think we finally narrowed down the pictures we're using so I can finally share some of the other pictures I've taken so far. Unfortunately for the blog, we are using Savannah's Santa picture for the Christmas card so I cannot share it here. I am proud to say, however, that the picture I took of her and Santa was 1000 times better than the one the nice folks at Phipps took!

I've also been very busy with our family calendar. The Davis Family calendar is long-time tradition that my Aunt Brencie started several years ago. Last year, Stephen and I took over production of the calendar (Brencie struggles a bit with the technology so we figured it would be fun and would help Brencie out if we put the calendar together.) Brencie prints the calendars and she and her granddaughters bind them. I wanted to "cheat" this year and do them through Shutterflly or some other online program like it, but at $20 a calendar, it is much more cost effective to do them ourselves...I think it ends up being about $2 per calendar.

Finally...time for some photos...

Bath time! Gage peed on Nana when I (being unprepared) ran to get my camera after the bath. "What are you lookin' at?"


Just messin' around...and torturing poor Gage.


Daddy and Gage fell asleep snuggling.


My mom took this one...his feet are so tiny. Savannah was nicknamed "Sasquach" at birth given the insane length of her feet. Gage's feet are eensy in comparison.


Tiny toes.


Sweet boy so alert.

More pics of our little man (and big sis)

We came home on Saturday...one day earlier than expected, but not a moment too soon! Although we were staying in "The Rainman Suite" (that a Swingers reference for those of you who don't know), it's amazing how much better home makes you feel. Back to my room at Piedmont Hospital for just a second. About a year ago (maybe a little longer), Piedmont added The Waters Pavillion. After a c-section with Savannah and 4 nights in the hospital, I dreaded another 4 nights in "the joint"...and so did Stephen given that the daddy beds are a tiny little 1970's fold-out 1/2 chair in a small corner of the room. There's no room for visitors and barely any room for mom to get up and walk around. Then we heard about the Waters Pavilion...this is the Ritz-Carlton of hospital rooms. It's a 2-room suite where visitors enter through the "family room" giving mom and baby plenty of privacy. We had our own private chef who would bring us delicious food (yes, hospital food that is delicious!) ordered from an extensive menu, anytime we wanted it from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. I could keep going on and on, but you all really just care about the pictures. But if you're ever going in for surgery and want a swanky place to recover, I HIGHLY recommend the Waters Pavilion at Piedmont Hospital. I plan to return when I go in for my liposuction, tummy tuck and any other post-mom reconstructive surgery I deem necessary :-)

Gage Martin Barnett


Savannah meets Gage for the first time on Thursday, 12/4/2008. She can't stop giggling :-)



My friend, Alice, sent these cute hats to Savannah and Gage. I love them!



Aunt Brencie with Gage...we plan to have him in the pool this year!


Coming home...
Savannah got her very first baby doll...her name is "Baby Dolly". Savannah loves to swaddle her and feed her milk and juice.


Savannah in her "Big Sister" shirt and Gage in his coming home outfit.


Me and my babies.

Someday My Prince Will Come (he's here!)

I am so happy to tell the world that Gage Martin Barnett arrived Wednesday December 3, 2008 at 8:52 a.m. He weighed in at 8 pounds, 6 ounces and is 19 inches long. He has been eating and sleeping very well and as I type this blog, he's sleeping soundly on a full belly.

Big sister, Savannah, came to meet Gage last night and I really wished we had a video camera to record her reaction. She first greeted me and attempted to climb up on my bed. When I pointed to the bassinet and asked if she knew who that was, she giggled and said, "Baby Gage" and then continued to giggle. She even held him (with some assistance). She is super proud to be a big sister. I'm just praying that her enthusiasm won't waiver.

Nana and Aunt Brencie took Savannah to the Marietta Square last night to listen to the Walker Middle School's choir (my little cousins were singing). She had a grand time playing on the train playground and then dinner at the Marietta Diner (yum!). She's just having a ball with her Nana!

I can't share any pictures on the blog, however, Stephen took several point and shoot pics and downloaded them to Shutterfly yesterday. Here's a link for those of you interested in seeing more of my little prince.

Shutterfly pics

Last night as a family of 3

My bag is packed...I think I overpacked for a 4-night stint in the hospital. I'm excited, happy, scared, nervous and sad all at the same time. I'm excited to no longer host this parasite that has been feeding off of me for 37 weeks. Happy to no longer miscalculate how incredibly large my mid-section is and quit bumping it into, well, everything. Scared because, well, it is surgery. Nervous to be a "new" mom all over again to a teeny tiny baby who is going to depend on me 120% for everything. Not to mention that this one is going to have a penis...ugh...which means circumcision...oh, God, what have I gotten myself into??? Can I say "penis" and "circumcision" on Blogger??? Finally, I'm sad...sad for Savannah. Don't get me wrong, I love that she is going to have a sibling. I don't know what I would do without my sister. I mean, who's going to be there for me when everyone else in my life has to go? So I know that having a brother is the best gift we can give her. I know she will love her new baby brother and she's going to be a terrific big sister. She's already, by her own thoughtfulness and sweetness, given up one of her beloved teddy bears to Gage. She recognized one night that he didn't have any teddy bears. So she went to her room, grabbed one of her own and tossed it over the rails into his crib. I mean, how precious is that???

So on this last night of being a family of 3 (as if this blog hasn't been all about Savannah), I thought I would post some of Savannah's first photos. She was a BIG baby girl and absolutely gorgeous! I'm not biased or anything.

9 1/2 pounds!






Click on this to see larger...3, 6, 9 and 12 months.



Oh, and I guess I'm going to have to come up with a new name for this blog.