oh how things have changed

typing with one hand... capital letters impossible... my apologies

i knew my life had changed dramatically when i called sam at work on friday to talk about poop. this is not a conversation that would have ever existed in pre-robbie times. but seriously-- it was an extraordinarily large quantity of poop and i needed to share it with someone. how could so much come out of someone so small. amazing.

there are a few things about being a parent of a newborn that bear a striking resemblance to being 9 months pregnant. first, you are still up every two hours-- not because you have to pee, but because the baby has and is crying. second, you aren't very hungry-- not because the smell/taste of food makes you nauseated, but because you are too tired to eat. third, you are constantly referring to books and relying on friends to answer the question: is this normal? -- not because your feet have just swollen to the size of a small european nation, but because your baby just took a dump the size of one.

overall, sam and i have been doing really well. robbie eats/needs a change every two to three hours. i've been taking care of him at night if sam has to work the next day. sam had today off, so he took care of him last night so i could sleep. robbie had a dr. appt last week and had gained 11 0z from his discharge weight-- this is good. we go back to the dr this week for another weigh in. we've had a lot of visitors and well wishers-- thanks especially to everyone who brought food. it was so nice not to have to cook that first week home from the hospital.

we got a copy of the "bill" the hospital sent to our insurance company yesterday. the total charges for the four days in the hospital came to about $13,000. fortunately, we will only have to pay a small fraction of that. we've decided to hang onto the bill so that someday when robbie asks us for a car, we can show him how much we've already shelled out for him just to be here... hmmm... maybe i should save all those receipts for diapers and formula too!

sam's mom gwen (nana to robbie) watched him for several hours this saturday so i could go to walmart and to the gym. so far i've lost about 24 pounds just by sitting around the house, but i fear the last 10 preggo pounds are going to make me work 'em off. brianna's wedding is less than a month away! i've got the bridesmaid dress hung over the door as motivation to get out and be active.

that is all for now. i cannot sit in this chair any longer! lots of love to all! more pictures of robbie are posted on the walgreens site. email me if you want the link to go see them.