Staley and Cousins

Little Staley, Big Staley and Nonnie with cousins Maya and Maria at Ocean Isle Beach.

Christmas

We spent Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Bumms house. It was cut a bit short by the snow but our little angel came home with lots of great memories from his first christmas at Camp Bumm.

Christmas Eve Visitors

We were lucky to have some friends come in town and visit on Christmas Eve.

Seth and Steph dropped by and brought breakfast. It was SO good and gluten free for mommie.

Luke thought that I should also note that by the time he was 5 weeks old - he and Seth had been friends for over a week! Here's to hoping that Staley has some lifetime friendships too!

Next up came Jason, Stacey, and cute little Grant. Technically, Grant is about a month and a half older than Staley... he came over to teach him some great things like holding his head up and sleeping through the night!

Message from the Boy

Merry Christmas!

And the Monkeys were hung by the Mirror with Care

Nonnie got Uncle Ray to make these awesome monkeys for Staley's room. Luke hung them up today and took a picture with our little monkey :)

One Month Old!

Technically, I'm 4 weeks old today, but Mom and Dad couldn't wait until Monday the 20th to post this picture, so here I am sporting some spiffy new gear from the Wheelers. Thanks Lois and Larry!


And if you're curious, I did not write the sign myself... mine would've been a lot cooler, but Dad says I'm too little to play with markers.

Duke hats

One of my friends and colleagues, Karin, stopped by last night to visit. She brought a cute hat that one of our other colleagues, Marnie, made at the craft fair. Isn't it adorable?

Farwell Party for Rann

Last night, our good friend Rann, held his annual holiday party at his house. There were a few differences from years past - Today, he starts a new job - and although we are excited about his new adventure, we are sad that he'll be moving to Richmond.

Last night was also our first date night out. You heard that right - we had a babysitter! Nalini (a friend from work) came over to watch Staley for a couple of hours. She was wonderful! We felt so at ease that we had a wonderful time out. She even gave him his first bottle and he loved it.

Rann will be missed but we can't wait until Rann Camp - we'll see you in Richmond during the summer of 2011.

Here are some photos of our growing man!


Xmas outfit from Nonnie - right before our first mommy and baby outing to the Donor Relations holiday party.

Outfit from Liz Patterson.

Oh the joys of grandparents

We probably could not have gotten through the past couple of weeks without the wonderful support of our parents. Here are just a couple of pictures of our proud Grandma and Grandpa Bumm and Nonnie and Pop Gentry.

Here Comes Santa Claus!

Our friends, David and Lise Sherlin, held an interact fundraiser today at their house. We were to bring unwrapped presents for a family - this is the second year that we've been and it is wildly successful. Probably because they are some of the nicest people we know and it's a great cause. This year Santa Clause came and took pictures with all of the good little boys and girls. Got to give it to Staley... he didn't cry!

Week of Firsts

This has been a very busy week for the Bumm family. We found out early in the week that Staley wasn't gaining weight as quickly as the Pediatrician would like so, we worked hard to "make weight" by our follow up appointment on Friday. We are excited to report that all that hard work was not in vain - he's back up to his birth weight.

Other first for the week:

First snow

First cold - sad but true. Our little man has the sniffles. There's a lot more cuddling going on until this passes.

Here's a picture of Staley and Dad, cuddling and watching the Saturday games.

Here she comes to save the day...

We found that for the most part, Luke and I are doing really well as parents during our first week. What are we needing work on? Sleep! We have a 5am feeding that afterwards, Staley would like to be awake for the rest of the day... Can you believe it? The nerve (just kidding).

In order to get a little extra z's, Grandma Bumm came in town last night and spent the night with us. After our 5am feeding, she took over duties. When I went back to bed, Luke asked if I was going to turn on the monitor and I told him, "don't have to -- your mom's got him." Best sleep I've gotten at night since he was born. Well worth it. I just hope we didn't exhaust her and she'll come back again. Here's a picture of Grandma, Dad, and Baby.

Our first walk

We all bundled up yesterday and took a quick stroll around the block. It was a bit chilly but, I assure you that Staley was the warmest of the bunch.


Luke, sporting baby Bumm in his front pack (my office gave that to us during an office shower... Luke LOVES it and has been dying to use it)


Baby Staley in his dinosaur hat from Cousin Shelia Schubert.

First Bath

Many thanks to "Nonnie" for helping out with Staley's first bath! Clean just in time for Thanksgiving!

Momma I'm coming home!

Baby Bumm came home yesterday. It was really fun to get him in his car seat and hear that suck suck suck noise of the pacifier on the way home. The night was a bit uneventful and today we are off to the doctor.

Our own professional photographer!

One of my co-workers from Duke, Courtney Cawley, was literally only in our room for 5 minutes and she took the most amazing pictures... Here are some of my favorites!

For the record, every time Luke and I look at these... we cry. He's such an amazing blessing and Courtney captured him perfectly!

Good Morning World

Jacob Staley Bumm arrived on Saturday, November 20th at 2:46am by c-section. After 31 hours of labor, he wanted his arrival to be as well attended as possible. In a surgery room -- I assure you, it is... Luke and I debated on how many doctors were in there at one time. I'd say we are safe to say around 10-12.

The delivery doctors were Piscatelli and Piscatelli. It was our OB and her daughter (the chief resident). With their masks on, I couldn't tell either apart. Pretty cool to have the duo in action.

Staley was born with a small amount of hair and there is no doubt that he's his father's child (I think they look very alike). He was 8 pounds 11 ounces. Big big boy!

News for the week

We got into our first choice in daycares! I got the call today and couldn't be happier. Staley will start in last January at a daycare that is close to both of us and that we can visit at anytime.

On to other news: Induction is set for 5pm on Thursday. We have a healthy baby boy with a bit of a stubborn streak in him... I guess this means that I'm a good cooker. They think he'll be around 8 pounds or larger. Can't wait to meet him.

For those of you that know me well, Thursday will be a day of deep cleaning and maybe even some baking at our house. The nerves will be calmed with some scrubbing action :)

Weekly progress

Sparing you the details... we went to the doctor today and were told that Baby Bumm is progressing nicely. They "think" that we won't make it to our induction date. Now we've been doomed to our induction date :)

All and all, can't wait to meet the little booger. He's stubborn like his father and does things on his own time. Good thing I like stubborn men!

Baby Bumm recieves his eviction notice

Well, we went to the doctor today and even though we are progressing... baby Bumm may need a push. We decided to schedule an induction on November 18th (if he doesn't come before). We also scheduled a couple more doctors visits to monitor our little man and make sure that everything over the next couple of weeks goes well. Keep your fingers crossed!

Can't Wait

We can't wait to show baby Bumm all the things possible in this world. I'm ok with him just watching this video (he doesn't have to participate in it ;)

The pictures are hung

Right before everyone got here last night, Luke finished up hanging all the pictures. Here's our finished nursery.

Supper Club in the Corn Maze

Last night we had a small version of supper club over for chili and then took off for the corn maze. Being that I'm two weeks away from giving birth... I drove, the rest of the group packed thier flasks and we were off.

Having never been to a corn maze before, we didn't really know what to expect. We were given a flag and a piece of paper with 10 "check points" for us to find. We stopped after only finding 6 out of ten.

After the maze, we played some games and went on a hayride...

It takes a village

Staley's outfit is done! Auntie Jill graciously stepped in and even put some special cording on the outfit... although, she was a little worried about making the button holes. So one of my co-workers wives, Lisa, is a seamstress and she did the buttons. I am so pleased to take home baby in the cutest most loved outfit! Here's the finished product!

Drop it like it's hot

We are in our 38th week and went to our scheduled doctors appointment today. When they took out the measuring tape, we were told that the baby has dropped and we are measuring at 35 weeks. The doctor said, "Well, we'll either see you next Thursday or in the hospital."

Only time will tell... Just our little update on our child!

Bets and Luke

Lessons in not overdoing it

So this weekend was an interesting one - I've begun to swell like crazy. My shoes have gone from a size 8-8 1/2 to a size 10 (and that's if the swelling on the top of my feet isn't out of control). My mother informed me to take my "mouth off the salt shaker" and the doctor said to keep my feet up and ice them. I followed their advice on Thursday but, on Friday night... Luke and I went to the Duke Blue White game. We only stayed until half time and my feet were so swollen that it was hard to get my socks off. Yikes! Did I learn my lesson?

No! Saturday, I decided that it was extra important to wash all windows in the house (inside and out) by the afternoon, I was in tears and we canceled dinner on some friends b/c I was totally exhausted. When will I learn?

It's weird but I feel like I've got to get all these small projects done before the baby arrives (like our visitors will really care if we have dirty windows).

Luke won't admit it but he's nesting too -- Building shelving, cleaning the garage, pruning outside, painting picture frames. I guess keeping busy is our way of welcoming baby!

We saw the Bumms (G-ma and G-pa, and Auntie Hilary) on Sunday for brunch. They came bearing gifts - clothing for the last couple of weeks - I'm sporting the tunic they brought already today. Hil had the best idea, that we should train Abby to bark twice for a diaper change. If she were able to do that, I'd buy her this outfit. Probably not but worth the dream!

I guess I'll try to do things in moderation for the next 3 weeks!

Buehler Volunteers Picture

This is a picture from the Buehler Rough Cut Screening that I helped with in August.

We give up

Jill and I decided to stop where we are and go get pedicures... perfect weekend!

He can come now...

Actually, I'd appreciate it if baby Bumm waits a while to make his appearance but, I'm super thrilled to tell you that all of the sewing is complete! Lava's mom made beautiful bedding and a cute pillow for our chair... It looks great with our window treatment and rug!

The coblers children don't have shoes

For a while, I've fallen out of love with smocking... or maybe I've just been too tired. Today, I got to work making baby Bumm's take me home from the hospital outfit. Aunt Jill is going to help me next weekend (and not a minute too soon) to put the outfit all together... I can't wait!

Working on the weekend

This weekend I worked the Donor Recognition weekend event at Duke. It was really long hours but it did have it's perks... check out the flowers I got to bring home!

Busy Luke Bumm

Luke decided that he wanted to build some storage from scratch for the laundry room. The doors slide from side to side... Really impressed with his work!