tales from a far-land

As of today, Madilyn is five weeks old!  I have been trying to post some of my thoughts for several weeks now, but the days just slip away from me.  At times, I do not even know what day it is.  Anyway, here are some lessons I have learned and some trivial facts about life with a baby... Madi's stats as of her 2 week well baby visit -- Weight:  8 pounds 11 ounces, Height:  21.5", Head Circumference: 13.5cm (As of today, Madi weighs 11 pounds!!!  Wow, she is growing by leaps and bounds.)  Our daughter has the cutest and brightest smile, especially just following a feeding.  I cannot wait to see it when complimented by her laugh. Madi has experienced several excursions out of the house including:  a car ride with her Dad and Great-Grandpa, lunch with Grandma Farrell and her friends, Costco, an adventure to Old Town Scottsdale, dinner out with her Great-Uncle and Great...

A zisn Pesach from our little bubeleh ...

Wishing all of our friends and family a Happy St. Patrick's Day!  May the luck of the Irish be with you always.  Can you believe that Madilyn is 3 weeks old today!?!  Isn't she a cute little leprechaun ... Madi in her 1st St. Patrick's Day outfit The Four Leaf Clover on Madi's Tushie Her 1st St. Patty's Day Bib Madi & Mommy  

Everytime I leave the house now, I find myself somehow in the baby clothes department of whatever store I am shopping.  I am obsessed with baby girl outfits.  They are so precious.  I think this is one of the downfalls of not finding out the gender of the baby prior to its birth.  Although, I could not imagine how much money I would have spent on *cute* baby outfits for Madi had I known ahead of time.  Anyway, I found this perfect outfit for Madilyn and just could not help but conduct my own little amateur photo shoot.  I had such a good time!  What an adorable model and outfit!  Aren't they all though when they are this tiny?  While conducting my photo shoot, I quickly realized that babies really do not have too many poses, unless you count their facial expressions.  I kept waiting for her to do something impressive like rollover or tilt her head to the side like all the models do, but nothing.  I am j...

Just wanted to give a quick update on the Farrell-Landers family. Madi is one week old today and we are all doing exceptionally well. A little less rested and a little more sleep deprived, but all in all really good. We have pretty much fallen into our routine -- as much as you can with a one week old baby . Madi and Mommy are feeding every 3-4 four hours. Daddy is on call when needed for the changing of diapers or when Mommy cannot get Madi back to sleep after a feeding. We are trying to keep this to a minimum, since he has already returned back to work. However, this usually occurs in the middle of the night, coinciding with the 2am feeding. After her feeding, Madi thinks that this is the best time to play instead of sleep. Luckily, Daddy loves to hold her so they have reached a compromise - he gets to hold her and she gets her way. I can already see a pattern developing. Madilyn also had her first visit to the pediatrician last Monday and she is growing right on track. In the ...

I cannot believe that it has been one week since my labor was induced. Time has flown by so quickly. I guess that is what happens when you are in the hospital for four days straight. You have already gotten a preview of my labor experience from a previous blog, but here is my version. Some of this may provide a little too much information, so I apologize in advanced to those of you who may not really want to know this much about a woman’s labor. My story begins Tuesday, February 23rd. I went into my morning OB/GYN appointment as I have every week for the past month. Week 40 was here and I was anxious to receive my weekly stats. I hoped my labor was progressing rapidly, but I had a strong feeling of doubt that anything had changed from the previous week and my gut feeling was correct.  No change; not in any of my stats from the week before. So, for three weeks straight my labor had not progressed a single bit. Really??? I was getting very disappointed, but even more concerne...

We have had several requests for more pictures of Madilyn. Sorry it has taken us a couple of days to get these posted. So, without delay, here is a photo slideshow of the labor, her birth and her homecoming. I'm a little biased, but I think she gets cuter and cuter everyday!

Since I could not really concentrate on updating the blog during labor, Josh recruited one of his dearest friends to help with the "play by play" of events.  Here is the progression of my labor experience through his words (with some insight and tidbits from Josh).  Thought you would enjoy the humor.  Don't worry though ... I will be providing my own labor story in a future posting.  I'm sure some of the details may be a little different via a third party observer. The Farrell Baby Alert by Gregory Ensell Labor +16 hours Good morning all. After a frustrating text exchange with Josh I'm prepared to give you all an update: 6:30pm, Tuesday, February 23, 2010 - The Farrells check into Arrowhead Hospital and start drugs to speed effacement, a surprisingly violent sounding process that has something to do with the cervix and makes me very squeamish! 7:30am, Wednesday, February 24, 2010 - Jenn survives an evening in the hosp...

We are WILD with joy and proud to introduce … MADILYN RAE LANDERS Born:  Wednesday, February 24th Time:  8:55pm Weight:  8 pounds, 4 ounces Length:  20.5 inches We will be updating the blog with more pictures and the birth story soon, but below are some pictures of Madi from Wednesday.  We are so in love with her and cannot believe that she has finally arrived.

When a woman gets pregnant, I think the rest of the mothers in the world decide that it is their duty to offer advice to this new recruit.  Throughout my pregnancy, I found this to be very true.  I have received advice from very close friends and strangers alike.  The advice provided has ranged from what I am allowed to eat or not eat what I should drink or not drink, exercise or not exercise, formula or breast feed, appropriate name and inappropriate names for our child, even how much weight is appropriate to gain or not as the case may be.  Most of the advice has been appreciated and welcomed, some of it has not.  However, there was one piece of advice that was given by several different moms.  They all advised me to take lots of pictures of myself pregnant.  I have been told that I will miss being pregnant and the pictures will help remind me of this special ti...

Here is the baby update.  Stats as of this week's visit ... Projected Due Date: February 25th Week of Pregnancy: 39 weeks Total Weight Gained: 35 pounds Baby's Heartbeat : 146 Effacement Percentage: 75% (same last week) This is how thin your cervix is. Dilatation: Maybe 1/2 centimeter (I think my doctor was just being nice and trying to give me some hope) How far your cervix has opened. 10 centimeters being the widest. Baby's Head Station: -1 (a little lower than last week) This is the position of the baby in relation to your pelvis, measured in pluses and minuses. A baby who is at 0 station is said to be engaged, while a baby in the negative numbers is said to be floating. The positive numbers are the way out! And the wait continues ...

Here is this week's baby update. Stats as of today's visit ... Projected Due date: February 25th Week of Pregnancy: 38 weeks Total Weight Gained:   33 pounds Baby's Heartbeat: 136 Effacement Percentage: 75% (I was 50% last week) This is how thin your cervix is. Dilatation: 0 How far your cervix has opened. 10 centimeters being the widest. Baby's Head Station: -2 (same as last week) This is the position of the baby in relation to your pelvis, measured in pluses and minuses. A baby who is at 0 station is said to be engaged, while a baby in the negative numbers is said to be floating. The positive numbers are the way out!   Position of the Cervix:   Still posterior The cervix will move from being more posterior to anterior. And so we wait ... To be honest as I look back at my pregnancy, I cannot believe that I have been pregnant for 38 weeks now.  For the most part, it has flown by so quickly and I have been so lucky.  I really d...

It is official … I have reached the “nesting” phase of pregnancy. According to many, this is the phase when you run around your house, despite your bulging belly, and make sure the nest is secure, well-stocked, and prepared for the baby. For me, it hit somewhere around the 36 week mark. Although, if you ask my husband, my neurotic need to have everything clean, organized and in order is not a new phenomenon in our house. However, at this point in the pregnancy, I constantly feel the urge (more than normal) to make sure everything is pristine, just in case the baby decides to arrive into our lives at any moment now. It is amazing how many projects I have found to complete around the house. Who knew that it was so unorganized? We have organized and re-organized the garage. The infant car seat bases have been installed in our cars and inspected/approved by our local county department of health. All of the essential baby’s clothes and blankets have been laundered. I have re-organized all ...

Welcome to the Farrell-Landers Family Blog! As many of you know, we are expecting our first "little" one at the end of this month, so we wanted to start a chronicle of our family adventures, stories and photos. Days fly by so fast and we wanted to be able to capture every moment it unfolds and share them with those that we love. Plus, it is a great way to scrapbook our life without the messy glue and hours of cutting. With that, we would like to share a photo montage we created of last year. 2009 was a very EVENTFUL one for us. It allowed us to experience many great travels and several new beginnings with those we love. So, please enjoy ...