Weeks 2 and 3

This has been a very fun past couple of weeks.  Mary Laine awake much more often than she was her first week and is also becoming more alert.  She continues to
 be a great eater and sleeper, which Mom and Dad are very thankful for.  Her Gran (Kathryn's mom) is convinced that she said "Hi" the other night and wants us to document that as being her first word.  I have been taking her picture next to her Bitty Baby doll to document her growth each week.  She still isn't much bigger than the doll, but she is definitely growing. 

Two Weeks

Three Weeks

Last weekend, Mary Laine's Uncle Jimmy came to Greenwood for a visit.  She loved getting to meet her uncle.  While he was here, he was 

successful in corrupting my husband - or was it the other way around?  His flight got into 

Memphis at midnight, and in a 

brilliant scheme to avoid any late-night baby duties, they 

headed over to the casinos in Tunica, MS.  Gary enjoyed some much-

needed and deserved time out of the house after his faithful care of me while on bedrest.  We also put Jimmy to work around the house.  Gary had some honey-do projects on his list and he recruited Jimmy to be his assistant.  Thanks Jim!

Mary Laine also got to meet her "aunt" Laura, my best friend from high school and one of the "Elaines" that she was named

 after.  Laura is expecting baby boy #3 in July, so Mary Laine is looking

 forward to meeting all of the Henson boys.  However, her Daddy insists that she will not have contact with any boys until she is at least 30.  Laura and I went out to dinner one night and it was my first time eating in a restaurant since October.  As always, we had a great time catching up.  

I can't believe that Mary Laine is already 3 weeks old.  Time is going by so quickly!  We are still 

cherishing every second that we have with her.  Check back soon for more pictures of all of Mary Laine's visitors...

Go Deacs!

Mary Laine was always active in the womb whenever Gary and I were watching Wake Forest sports. So, we were not surprised to see that she was an instant Deac fan. These pictures are of Mary Laine watching her second Wake Forest basketball game (the first was WFU vs BYU but we didn't get any pictures). As you can see in the pictures, Mary Laine felt that the outcome of the game was never in doubt and was very relaxed during the entire game. She had a similar attitude during the Boston College game last night. Go Deacs! Way to beat those "stinkin' tarheels"!!!

The Joys of Motherhood

It is hard to believe our precious daughter has already been with us for over a week. She was one week old on Saturday. I am so thankful to Gary for keeping the blog updated during the past week and a half. We are now all home and enjoying life as a family of four (of course we haven't forgotten about Deacon!). Mary Laine is such a good baby. She usually sleeps until we wake her up to eat and she eats very well. When we left the hospital on Friday, she was already almost back up to her birth weight. We are already noticing that she is much more alert than she was even a few days ago. She loves to eat and to be rocked and sung to and she does not like diaper changes or bath time. After several months on bedrest, I am so thankful to have an appetite again and to be sleeping well. I truly am loving every second of motherhood and am so thankful that Mary Laine is healthy and that she is here!

I was pointed to a beautiful passage in Matthew this week. Matthew 21:16 says, "Yes; have you never read, 'Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise for Yourself'?" (referring to Psalm 8:2). How beautiful to know that my "nursing baby" is able to praise God?!?

The name Mary Elaine was a fairly easy decision for us. First of all, she was named after her grandmothers - Gary's mom is Mary and my mom is Elaine (Lanie). Mary is also the first name of my grandmother, my sister, and Gary's aunt. Elaine is my middle name, my cousin's name (who goes by Laine), my cousin's daughter's name, and my best friend from high school's name. We also loved these names because of what they mean. Mary (according to some translations) means "Beloved" and Elaine means "Bright Light". She is certainly our beloved daughter and it is our prayer that she will be a bright light illuminating the gospel. "In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven." Matthew 5:16

We will continue to post pictures and updates of our beloved bright light.

Love from Gary, Kathryn, Mary Laine, and Deacon

Mary Laine After Her First Bath

In order to save the eardrums of the masses, I will not post the video of Mary Laine's first bath.  I will however post this cute video of she and her mommy snuggling up afterwards. 

Mary Laine has a Suntan

More commonly referred to as jaundice, our little girl has been checked back into the hospital (Greenwood this time) to sit under the lights for a while.  We don't expect to be here too long (1-2 days max) but we wanted to post a few pictures.  We definitely are not excited about being here, but we just can't help how funny our daughter looks with her foam goggles as she lies underneath what is basically a glorified tanning bed.   

Great Timing

 

I am going to let Kathryn do most the blogging from this point about our little girl, but I had to write a quick note about how great Mary Laine timed her entrance into our world.  Not only were Kathryn's parents, brother (back at Harvard), and sister (back at Birmingham-Southern) able to be at the hospital when Kathryn had the baby, my parents had decided just in the last month to make a trip to Greenwood for the New Year.  

So when we headed to the hospital (not knowing at that point if we were going to have the baby immediately) they stayed at our house and put Deacon to bed.  The next morning (after discarding Deacon at Cooper Animal Hospital - sorry Deacon!) they were able to come up and see their grandchild and visit for a good while before heading back to Atlanta.  It could not have worked out better, and we are so thankful that they were here to help get us to the hospital (we didn't have to worry about taking care of our puppy dog) and more importantly that they were able to spend time with us post-labor laughing and crying with our new born Mary Laine.  

Thank you mom and dad (Dyksterhouse) from the bottom of our hearts for making the trip down and for being flexible with our crazy schedule.  Thank you mom and dad (Sturdivant) for all the help you have been during these 9 weeks of bed rest, and an anticipatory thanks for all the help you will be as we do our best to take care of Mary Laine.  You both mean so much to us.  We are saving a lot of family and friend pics, but I just couldn't wait to post these of our immediate family.

More Photos of our Mary Laine

A Quick Note from the Father

Why do people insist on apologizing to me that my beautiful daughter looks everything like my beautiful wife?  This makes no sense.  What husband in his right mind would want his little girl to come out of the womb looking just like him?  On the flip side, how many husbands would love for a perfect little girl to be born that is a spitting image of the woman that he loves more than life itself?  Hopefully you get my point - from now on NO apologizing for my little girl being a beautiful replica of the woman I married :)

Thanks for all the notes and visits!  We are well loved.

More Mary Laine

I am going to let Kathryn fill everyone in on the details of the delivery night, but my job is to provide pictures and I even have a video.  Here they are...enjoy :)

And some pictures.....

   

Mary Elaine Dyksterhouse (Mary Laine) Arrives!

Sorry for the shoddy cutup of the photo, but we wanted to get a quick photo out to all our friends and family.  Thank you so much for the prayers, phone calls, texts, emails, and thoughts.  Mary Laine's recruiting profile is as follows:

Name: Mary Elaine Dyksterhouse

Goes By: Mary Laine

Height: 18 1/2 inches

Weight: 5lbs 5oz

Birthdate: January 3rd, 2009

Birthtime: 12:25am

She is hanging out under the warming light, and soaking in the real world.  We love every second we have with her, and hope to bring her home soon.  We will post more pictures when we get a chance.  

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Mom and Dad Dyksterhouse came into town to celebrate the New Year with us.  Here we are at midnight toasting to the New Year.  We decided to bring in the New Year at 12am Eastern Time, since that came quicker than Central Time, and as you can see by the pictures below, not everyone was exactly ringing in the year with dance and song.

  

Deacon even got into the action with a little champagne (just don't call the cops, he is only 1 year old).   We hope that everyone had a great New Year's Eve and that 2009 brings you the grace and love of Jesus Christ.  Happy New Year!