Blog List

Monday, December 29, 2008

So our blog freaked out an deleted the list on the right that shows all the blogs we follow. If I had yours listed but it's not there now, please let me know, because I use it to read about my friends. You can email me if you don't want to put it in a comment: meagan.severson@gmail.com. Thanks!

Family Night Snowflakes

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Tyler and I have been trying extra hard lately to make better use of our time, especially family time. So one night this week we decided to make snowflakes for our front window. My family often did this growing up (in fact, they are impressive snowflake makers) and I thought it would be fun. Tyler wasn't very experienced, but I showed him some of the tricks of it and his turned out well. Here are a few of them.

First time eating food!

Monday, December 8, 2008

Yesterday, Lydia got to eat rice cereal for the first time. I thought she would hate it, but she actually liked it. The only problem was that for some reason, she felt like she needed to curl up into a ball when it was time to eat. I don't really know why, but it certainly makes it difficult. That and she kept wanting to suck on her fist. Anyways, here is a video and a few pictures:



Yummers!


(It's actually 2008, Daddy was just distracted)



All done!

Just some pictures

Here are some pictures of Lydia that don't really warrant their own post, but I like.









What I've been up to

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Lately I've been really into couponing. It's my new hobby. I feel very blessed to be able to stay home with Lydia, but it isn't easy monetarily, so I've been looking for different ways I can help cut back expenses. I discovered that there is this entire online world of people who research coupons and sales and let you know how to get things for a fraction of the price. I've really enjoyed looking into these things and have found a few really awesome sources. My favorite is probably www.moneysavingmom.com. She posts deals and links to printable coupons that she can find and also that her readers lets her know about. The other is www.freebies4mom.com. This one is more for fun, because it lets me know about free samples that are available to sign up for. I've decided to keep track of how much I save every week. A few weeks ago, I actually made a little bit of money with a purchase worth $12. This week, I saved 6.50 when I went grocery shopping. When I figure that up, I don't figure the face value of the coupons, I figure up how much I would have spent on a similar product. For example, I bought ziploc bags because I had a great coupon. Usually I buy the store brand. So I didn't save $1.50, I actually only saves 24 cents, because with the coupon, they cost 25 cents less than the store brand.

Anyways, I know this is totally nerdy, but I've really, really enjoyed doing it lately and just wanted to share.

A Candid Moment with Dad

Sunday, November 9, 2008

We were just sitting around this afternoon and I was playing with the camera. I decided to take some video without Tyler knowing. Here is the result. It's shaking a bit at the end because I was giggling.



Yes, he did just call me a harpy.

Exact transcript:

"Feet games...sitting up...
Feet games...feet games while sitting up!

...are you video-taping? Woman, stop the video tape, ya harpy."

Halloween

Friday, October 31, 2008

Tonight was Halloween and it was pretty fun. We planned on having a small party with just a few friends, but one of those friends got sick, so we postponed it until tomorrow. As a result, we decided to go to a few Halloween parties that were going on. The only problem was that we didn't have any costumes because our party wasn't going to involve them. About an hour before the first party was going to start, I made this costume for Lyddie out of an old laundry bag and a ribbon I had laying around. I made up the pattern and glued the whole thing together. Over all, I was pretty pleased with myself.



Tyler and I didn't dress up, but we had fun anyways. Here's Lyddie after a few hours of partying. Our friend Brittany is holding her. Some of you may recognize the shirt she's wearing as part of her costume. As you can see, Lydia was very excited for Halloween.



(Oh, and for those of you who haven't emailed me yet, I'm closing down the blog to the public on Sunday, so let me know if you want to have permission to read it!)

Security

Sunday, October 26, 2008

I'm about to make our blog available to only limited readers. Pretty much anyone we know is OK, we just don't want any freaks kidnapping the baby. If you want to be allowed, just let me know and I'll add you, assuming we know who you are. I will leave the blog open for another week, and then I'm changing the security features. Thanks guys, sorry for the inconvenience.

I'm Happy

Friday, October 17, 2008

I've really enjoyed the last few months since Lydia came. Not just because I love being a mom and get a lot of joy out of that, but also because I've had time to do things that I want. When I was working at Verizon, I had very little flexibility. It was very difficult to get off work for a weekend or a Saturday. It also took up a lot of my time. Ever since I've been home with Lydia, I've been able to go on a trip and visit with people, when I never would have been able to otherwise. I feel very free. I get to help my husband with things, like studying for a test or making a rock club poster (which turned out freaking awesome, by the way. I also get to do things for my daughter. Yesterday I spent about 4 or 5 hours making Lydia a book of her family, so she could know them even though she doesn't live near them. It turned out pretty cute and I'm very happy with it.

Tonight is Friday Night Live at BYU, which is basically an even where every BYU club sets up a booth and people come and check them out. There's live music and stuff too. Anyways, I'm excited for it because I get to go help Tyler and I get to dress Lydia up in a cute outfit and show her off. Tomorrow is the Mountain Goats concert in SLC. I'm a little nervous about it because I've never left Lydia for more than an hour or two, but tomorrow we're leaving her with a sitter. I know she'll be fine, but I'm surprised at how much I worry about her when I'm not with her. I'm glad that she's a happier baby, though, because I'd be more worried if she was sad the whole time. I wouldn't be able to go to either of these things if I was still working, and I'm very grateful that we are somehow managing for me to be able to be home with Lydia. It's a joy to take care of her, she's such a sweet baby, if she is a little stubborn. It's been some of the happiest days of my life so far. Even if I have to go back to work eventually, I'm still glad that I get to have this experience.

Lydia's Weight Problems, Cont.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Well, we went to the doctor to make sure that she's still gaining weight like she should, and she isn't. It's been exactly two weeks since her last appointment and she was supposed to have gained 10 oz. Unfortunately, she's only gained 5. That puts her in the 5th percentile still, despite my supplemental efforts. As a result, the doctor has asked that I give her a higher concentration of formula and some blood tests. We're pretty worried about our little girl and hope to find out what's wrong soon.

Lydia's Personality

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Lydia is a stubborn little girl who knows exactly what she wants. Recently, she's started whining a lot. Not crying, exactly, but almost a sort of moaning cry. She doesn't like it when things happen to her that just aren't fair, like those mean hiccups. Whenever she's happy and I leave her sight for more than two or three minutes, she'll begin to cry. She has to have attention or she's not a happy camper. She's also recently started being very very picky about the temperature of her bottle. She's never had problems switching between breastfeeding and the bottle, so I thought we were in the safe zone, but now if her bottle gets even slightly cool, she refuses it. The problem is, physics won't allow it to stay within her acceptable temperature range. About 2 ounces into her bottle, she'll stop drinking it and I have to reheat it before she'll take anymore. My instincts tell me to not reheat it, because I don't want her to learn that she can be that picky. Because of her weight problems, though, I have to cater to this little whim. It's no fun being slave to a 2 month old, but she's so darn cute, I guess I'll make it through.

Here's a video I took a few days back. She's recently started to try rolling over. She's succeeded a few times from tummy to back, but I think it was accidental because she was throwing a tantrum at the time. Back to tummy is a little bit more tricky though. I think this video also has a good example of her whiny cry.

Lydia's Blessing

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

This weekend, Tyler's parents and my parents came to Utah for Lydia's baby blessing. We had the blessing at my grandparent's log cabin on the Snow Farm in Deweyville, UT. Lydia wore the dress that I was blessed in and was absolutely adorable. The next day, we went down to Magna, UT to get a five generation picture with Lydia's Great-Great-Grandma. It was a very special weekend overall.


Grandma and Grandpa Severson with Lydia. This was the first time Grandpa Severson got to meet Lyddie.













Lydia is OK

Monday, September 29, 2008

We thought she was, but now we know. We went to the doctor today and she's gained as much weight as her doctor wanted her to at this point. She's still only in the 5th percentile, but at least she's on the chart now. Thank you all for your concern. We really appreciate it.

Lyddie Bitty

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Today we had a nurse visit our home as part of a program that we qualify for, mostly to check up and give us information about how to take care of Lydia. As part of the visit, we asked her if she could weigh Lydia, because we've been pretty worried about her weight gain lately. She just seems so skinny, especially compared to other babies her age. The news was worse than I thought. Lydia weighed in at 7lb 15oz. Given the fact that she weighed 7lbs 13ozs when she was born, this is really bad. It puts her below the lowest line on the percentile chart. (Which is the 3rd percentile, by the way. Can you be in the 0th percentile?)

So, needless to say, we're pretty worried about her. It's interesting because I did the same thing when I was a baby, but it looks like it's for different reasons. My mom accidentally starved me (I only gained 1oz in 2 months), but I'm pretty confident that I've been feeding her plenty. We called the doctor and he's going to help us figure out what's wrong at the beginning of next week.

Luckily, every other aspect of Lydia seems to be developing just fine. She's very active and is hitting all of her developmental milestones. We just want her to be healthy, and hopefully, we can fix whatever is wrong and help her get to where she needs to be.

Lydia: A Different Baby!

Sunday, September 21, 2008

For those of you that we haven't complained to in the last month, here's the deal: Lyddie has been crying pretty much non-stop from when she was three weeks old to when she was six weeks old (last week). This has been rather grating, as you can imagine. I was getting frustrated, Meagan was getting pretty sad, and our home was just sort of a stressed-out place to be.

We finally got the idea that babies aren't supposed to cry for twelve hours a day, so we called up Lydia's doctor. He said that it sounded like acid reflux, which is apparently rather common in infants. In fact, Wikipedia says that some estimate as many as 35% of infants have issues with acid reflux. The doctor prescribed medicine for Lyddie, and told us to let him know how it went.

I was skeptical at first. I mean, heck, he did this over the phone. I would much rather have had him see her and actually bother. I was sort of cursing under my breath about doping up my baby without having a clue. But I was just wanting so much for her to be a happy baby that I was willing to do whatever.

We started giving her half of a pill every afternoon (for what it's worth, the pill isn't narcotic or anything. It's called lansoprazole, and it's proton pump that basically just keeps her stomach from producing acid, thus eliminating the pain of the reflux. Oh, and she should grow out of this before her first birthday, by the way.). And in the last four days since she's started it...wow. The change has been night and day. Meagan and I are just so happy to have her here now. We loved her before, of course, but now she's actually a joy to have around. She sleeps throughout the day, only cries for a few hours each day, is consolable when she is crying, and has started smiling and interacting with us more. It's like she's a different baby. And now we're having the pleasure of seeing little peeks of personality come through, instead of just non-stop crying. Heck, she might even start putting on weight now, since she's not spending the whole day yelling and flailing her arms and legs.

All in all, we're grateful to have our little girl back. It must have been a tough few weeks for her too, but now I think we're all happy to be here.

It's a good life.

A few cute pictures

I've put most of these on facebook, but for those who read this blog who aren't on facebook, here are a few of my favorite pictures of Lydia.


She's recently been trying to smile, but usually it's not quite right. I like this one for that reason.



Scrunchy-faced Lyddie. We hope she grows out of it, but for now it's pretty cute.



This is Lydia with an attitude. She's just ticked off in this one.

A Video for the Grandmas

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Lately, at a six and a half weeks old, Lydia has taken to her tummy. She actually really likes it. It's like her magic off-button. Whenever she cries, I can set her on her tummy and she'll usually stop crying within five minutes. However, those first five minutes can really make her angry and she will usually scoot around like crazy. She's always been a strong baby, but I think she's just getting stronger. In this video, which is about a minute and a half long, she turns nearly 180 degrees and goes from the middle of the blanket to almost completely off of it.

Lyddie's taste in music

So, I expected it would happen, but I didn't expect it to happen so soon. It was inevitable that Lydia would love Rock and Roll. Her father is basically breeding her to do so. For example, he has sung her unorthodox lullabies since she was born. The other day I heard him singing Bohemian Rhapsody to her (I admit I joined in by the end). He's also sung her Led Zeppelin, Simon and Garfunkel, and other of his favorites.

We noticed pretty early on that she enjoyed guitar solos. When she was about 4 weeks old, Tyler was listening to Freebird in the car, and she Lydia was crying. That is, right up until the guitar solo, and she immediately quieted down. This could have been just a coincidence, but there is more evidence.

Some of our friends gave us baby Beatles CDs. They are basically quiet renditions of Beatles songs for babies to listen to while they fall asleep. She doesn't really like them much. However, the other day, Tyler got a bunch of records, including a Zeppelin IV LP. I was holding her as he was playing with his new record player and she was screaming. As soon as he started the album, though, she immediately quieted down. I thought it could be a coincidence, but as soon as he stopped the record, she started screaming again. Like that very second. I asked Tyler to start it up again to see what would happen, and she stopped crying as soon as it began to play. Lyddie likes hard rock.

This makes her father very happy.

In fact, she was just crying a minute ago and I wanted to write on the blog, so I turned on Zeppelin IV and she stopped. It's like magic.

So there you have it. My 6 and a half week old baby is a rocker.

Further Bloggings

Sunday, September 14, 2008

It's now 5:53 AM.


A few counts for you since Meagan has been gone: 

Number of shirts worn this week: 2

Number of meals involving pasta: 5 (interestingly enough, this is the same amount of meals that have involved cheese. It's disturbing that I equate eating a block of cheese with some sort of bachelor paradise)

Times I have left the toilet seat up because I can: 0 (I am a creature of habit...courteous habit)

Nights I have gone to bed before 2:00 AM: 0

Hours of sleep I will get tonight: Decreasing by the minute...looking like zero at this point

Ratio of pants to no-pants time: about 1:2 (for every 8 hours with, that's 16 without! Huzzah!)

Grandmothers disturbed by the latest count: 3 (including Meagan's grandma. Hi grandmas!)

Homeworks done: Enough, thank you very much.

The Bloggings of a Lonely Young Gentleman

First off, I don't know if it really is a word or not, but "bloggings" as a noun is now my new favorite word.


It can also be abbreviated to "bloggins"...so say I? For those unsure of pronounciation, it rhymes with "Loggins," but not "Messina."

Apparently my sense of humor dies at night.

I'm writing this at 4:22 AM on Saturday night/Sunday morning. I think my bishop usually gets up around this time. Maybe I'll call him and say hey.

So, as it turns out, Meagan brings order to my life. She's been in Amarillo for the last few days (and she took Lyddie with her, which has been strange of itself. More on that later) and in those few days, I have not only done virtually nothing in the way of homework or housework (and only the essentials of personal hygiene. I think I've worn the same shirt for about four days by now, but it's OK because it's stylish and I am a dapper fellow), but I've spent HOURS AND HOURS not doing it. Seriously, I got about eight or nine hours of sleep on Wednesday and Thursday night COMBINED. Then, of course, my body decided to take matters into its own hands and I slept eleven hours on Friday night. The unfortunate part is that those eleven hours didn't start until 4:00 AM, so I woke up around 3:00 PM.

This, ladies and gentlemen, explains my presence at this moment. I've only been awake for 13 hours or so. 

And...church starts in four hours exactly. Awesome. 

It's interesting to reflect upon how much I've come to need Meagan in my life. No, she's not my maid or my nagging conscience. Heck, when she's here, I'm really quite self-driven. But when she's gone, it's like my sense of purpose goes with her. I become hobo-like. In fact, I plan to spend a good part of Monday playing guitar on the corner and actively creating BO.

I suppose that it's times like these that make me realize how good I have it in life. Sure, we're dirt poor and will likely remain so for at least the next ten years. Sure, we don't have a clue on most of the things we're doing in life (specifically, parenthood). But Meagan and I make a good team that can take on what we're thrown. We complement each other in such seemingly miniscule ways that make all the difference. She inspires and uplifts me to heights I am quite convinced I could not reach on my own. We're climbing seemingly endless mountains together, but I've got her rope, and she's got mine. 

And Lyddie. Oh, little girl, I miss you. I just watched the videos from Meagan's last post and they made me really happy and really sad. While I'm still really struggling with the idea (much less the practice) of fatherhood, I miss my baby girl. Even though my sleep is much more undisturbed, my hands much less slobbery, and my changing table much less pooped upon, I miss her presence. I haven't gotten to sing "Bird Stealing Bread" in days now, and I miss it (the song, by the way, is by Iron and Wine, and despite its rather sad lyrics, is a beautiful lullaby that she seems to take to. You can hear it here, just ignore the emo video...aw, they broke up, how sad :-(. Anyway, judge me if you will, but my girl will have great musical taste). 

Well, they get back on Monday afternoon. There will be feasting and dancing.

In the meantime, I guess I should try to sleep a bit. You know, three hours or so. 

Dang, I'm dumb.

Sleep.

Hopefully.

Videos of things Lydia hates.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Here is a video of Lydia we took about two days ago. She doesn't much care for swaddling, as you can see.



This may be have been taken the same day as the first, but here is Lydia enjoying her daily tummy time. We try not to do tummy time unless she's already crying for no reason, because she doesn't react very well to it.



So there you have it, Grandmas! We'll try to take video of her doing things where she's happy, although, she doesn't smile yet, so it's difficult to tell when she's happy. Mostly she just looks stoned. Once she smiles, which should be any day now, we'll try to get a video of it for all of her adoring fans.

Never mind. I actually just found this one. It's kind of boring, but I'm going to put it up here anyways. Here's Lydia just being happy!

First 2 weeks have come and gone.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008



I'm feeling very blessed as my daughter passes her 2 week mark. It was weird this afternoon when I was changing her clothes and discovered that an outfit that she wore shortly after she got home, which was way too large, is now fitting her. In the period of about a week, she's already grown noticeably larger. It sort of makes me sad, because I'm realizing how fast she's going to grow, but it also makes me excited. There are so many cool things that she is going to learn, even in just the next few weeks and months.

Ever since Lydia was born, we have had so much help and so many people caring about us, that it is almost overwhelming. My mom, Tyler's mom, Sister Olive, and my sister have all been so kind and helpful. I've really appreciated all their help. It was weird to have people helping me because I've never needed it before, but I did need it, and I'm glad that there are people in my life who were so willing to do all that they did for me.

Lydia is absolutely adorable. She has the sweetest cry and expressions. I love it when she looks around and is alert. I also worry about her a lot. I used to think that moms that would pick up their babies at every peep were chumps, but now I understand the temptation. I hate just letting her cry, although I do it when it's necessary. I also find myself constantly checking on her when she's asleep to make sure she's still alive. I hope this worry goes away soon, but I have a feeling it won't for a while.

Although having a newborn has been very difficult and recovering from a C-section wasn't the most painless of ordeals, it is completely worth it all for her. I'm excited that she's here and a part of our family, and I'm really looking forward to experiencing all of the events of her life that are coming.

This is a picture I just took of her after I wrote this. She's sleeping in the boppy pillow on the couch on a blanket that Sister Blaylock made for us:

Visiting

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Dear friends,

Some of you have inquired about coming and visiting Meagan and Lydia in the hospital. We're happy to have you, if you'd like to come. Give us a call and we'll get you the info you need.

Ev'ry New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginning's End

Monday, August 4, 2008

I speak, of course, of the end of pregnancy and the beginning of parenthood. That's right, faithful followers, the time has come for introductions.

Well...not quite yet.

Here's the deal. Meagan went to the doctor this afternoon (Monday, August 4, 2008) around 2:00. It was her 41-week appointment. For those not in the know, pregnancy is ideally a 40 week ordeal, but Meagan has been, however unwillingly, pushing onward. The doctor did his check (it was really fun to watch the look on her face as this happened, by the way), and told here that she had three options:

Option the First: Keep on waiting. The problem with this, beyond the fact that Meagan is ready to have this thing out of her body, is that the baby is getting big and is still being carried pretty high...so there's a chance it would just keep on hangin' out until things got dangerous. We declined this option.

Option the Second: Schedule a C-section. That doesn't sound fun. Though c-sections are incredibly safe these days, it's still more of a risk than we wanted to take.

Option the Third: Induce. This is done in a few different ways. First, Meagan was told to return to the office that night for "cervix stretching." THIS SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD TIME. She would then report to the hospital where they would induce labor with a pitocin drip. The good doctor said that going this route, the baby would be here in the next 24 hours (!).

We, naturally, opted for the third option. The downside is that Meagan's body isn't giving any signs of wanting to be in labor yet. She has had very few contractions, and the baby is still pretty high up. The fact is that even with a pitocin drip, she has, says Dr. Feelgood, about a 50-50 chance of needing a c-section. While it's not the end of the world if that's what has to happen, we're both hoping it doesn't come to that.

So. This blog is going to be a long one. Here's my plan. We're going to keep this same blog constantly edited over the next 24 hours. I'm going to get on and put in any fun stories, interesting facts, and, eventually, the grand climax of the story. Just follow along, if you'd like. Think of it as an obstetrically-centered episode of 24.

That being said...away we go!



CHAPTER I: AT YOUR CERVIX!
5:30 PM


We returned to the doctor at the appointed time. We were a bit nervous, especially Meagan, simply because "stretching the cervix" doesn't sound like a rollicking good time. I mean, I don't even have a cervix (I hope?), and I winced at the idea. All sorts of debate was going on. Would it be a manual operation? Does he have a neat machine (the Cervitron 2000!)? Would it take a long time? Would it hurt? Would it make labor happen, so the miracle drugs aren't needed?

We thought about all of this as we noticed that we were not by any means alone in the waiting room. It turns out that ol' Doc was having a regular cervix stretching fiesta that evening, attempting to induce labor on four different women. As the women debated what "stretching" really implied, I read an article about Italian grilling. SPLENDID TIMES FOR ALL.

The girl that got called in before Meagan came out about five minutes later, so we figured it wasn't a long process. She also gave Meagan the thumbs up and said, "It's completely painless," as she walked out the door.

"Meagan," I said. "She's lying."

"I hope not....she wasn't walking funny or anything..."

Meagan's turn came, Doc lubed up the happy fingers, and...well, it happened just about like you'd think. There was...um..."reaching" (the doctor), stretching (the cervix), and wincing (Meagan). There was also sitting (me) and comforting (also me).

After a few minutes of premium cervix expansion service, complete with filter change and new windshield wipers, Doc gave us our marching orders: be at the hospital between 8:00 and 10:00 tonight, and we'll get this show on the road.

Eep.


CHAPTER 2: "I HATE TO BE THE BEARER OF BAD NEWS..."
9:28 PM


A note to all doctors and nurses present and future: THIS IS NOT A PHRASE TO BE THROWN AROUND LIGHTLY.

I'll get to the history in a second, but here's the scoop for the moment. They hooked Meagan up to a fetal monitor that measures both contractions and the baby's heartbeat. They let this go for a while and saw a few of Meagan's contractions. What they saw afterward, however, was a drop in the baby's pulse. It's a temporary drop, and it comes right back up, but it's still significant. The nurse said that the fact that the drop is coming AFTER contractions indicates that the baby is in a bit of distress, most likely due to the fact that she's overdue. The nurse introduced this information with the title statement.

Ladies and gentlemen, this freaked me right the heck out.

I get strange when I worry. I get a bit withdrawn and pretty serious. I hope that goes away soon, because it's not a good mindset for me or for Meagan right now. The nurse says that this isn't a really big deal and that both of her kids did the same thing, which remains strangely non-comforting.

In any case, the nurses tilted Meagan up on her right side and got her on an oxygen flow. That seems to have diminished the drop in the baby's pulse, which is making me feel a bit better. Meagan and her mom (who is with us, by the way...I don't think I've mentioned her until now) are more upbeat. I guess I'm just really worried for the baby. I have my personal reasons, having to do with my views on God, etc., but I'm trying to do well with those.

OK, with that out of the way:

The doctor told us to come between 8 and 10. Meagan was excited to get here, but thought that she would "look like a dork" if she showed up exactly at 8. Thus, we opted to be "fashionably late" and aimed to get here around 8:15. It turned out to be a really good thing that this wasn't an emergency, because I had to circle the hospital once or twice before we found the entry for Labor and Delivery. We got here eventually, got her registered, and were ushered to a rather large birthing room. Pardon me, birthing suite. And sweet it is (PUNTASTIC)! It's a spacious room that looks as though the Marriott family designed the hospital (then again, this is Provo, Utah, and such a thing is quite possible, I guess).

Meagan got dressed (draped) in her special hospital "clothes" and the fun began. Her nurse seems like a feisty young lady. She needed the energy to check Meagan's dilation. Apparently Meagan's cervix...well, apparently it's pretty far up there. This nurse had to get REALLY involved to check the dilation (which, by the way, is up to two). As she threw away her soiled glove she exasperatedly said, "I'm sorry, I haven't had to be that rude in a long time!"

They got her strapped in and monitored, then all the big stuff spoken of up above ensued. You will recall that this was the freak out time.

Our nurse called Doc, who said that he wanted to observe her for an hour and see if anything would happen naturally before introducing a pitocin drip. And that, my friends, is where we are right now. Just waiting out the next hour to see if Meagan's body will go into labor and if anything bad happens with the pulse (which is looking better and I'm starting to relax about). Her contractions are starting to come more and more often. Right now she's having them about every two minutes or so. We're hoping that means things will go naturally, which would just be lovely.

And now...off to throw up!


CHAPTER 3: IN THE WHICH MEAGAN HAS WEAKSAUCE VEINS
10:48 PM


It took half an hour, three nurses, seven needles (and the same amount of pokes), and Meagan almost shattering the bones in both of my wrists, but Meagan is finally fitted with an IV. Seriously, this was absurd. I would like to point out that the nurses here were not at fault. They were, in fact, very skilled. The problem, as they told her, was her anatomy. Apparently her veins are very sensitive to shutting off. She seems to have more valves in her veins than most people, which means that when the vein gets penetrated, it seals itself off. Good if you're bleeding...bad if people are trying to force you to bleed.

The whole thing the last post was about has gone away. Sorry for the panicked tone...I'm just pretty nervous about the whole thing. I'll probably freak out many more times throughout the evening, but I'll try to keep them in perspective for our viewers at home.

In other news, Meagan has a very strong grip. She used my wrist to take out her pain, and it changed to a very interesting shade of red.


CHAPTER 4: NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS?
1:05 AM

I suppose that the baby's birthday is now pretty much officially August 5. Other than that, we haven't really realized anything new. We have a new nurse who seems to have slightly longer fingers, which will hopefully make cervical checkups a little easier. Unfortunately, Meagan has made virtually no progress in the last two hours. She's still dilated to a 2+, which just isn't that high. Nevertheless, she insists that the contractions are getting stronger and hurting worse, so...well, hopefully something will start happening soon.

Meagan's mom is trying to help her out in any way possible. She's trying to get her to relax during contractions, rather than tensing up. Meagan, however, said that that hurts even worse. "Mom, relaxing isn't the way to go."

Other important things that happened on August 5th:

1861: The United States Army abolishes flogging.
1930: Neal Armstrong born
1957: American Bandstand debuts on ABC
1962: Marilyn Monroe dies
1964: Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys born

Apparently this day was actually pretty boring. Give my daughter fifty years or so, and she'll have this named as a holiday.

CHAPTER 5: SHE WAS TIED TO THE BED WITH A MIRACLE DRUG IN ONE HAND
3:17 AM


After suffering through a few hours of pretty intense contractions, Meagan's doctor approved an epidural for her. The vibe in this room has completely reversed. Where before things were dark and Meagan was writhing and wincing, the room is now just happier in general. As Meagan said, "That was not a fun place where I was...and the idea of it getting worse is just hell." Luckily, her doctor approved the anesthesia relatively early on, so she's really getting the good end of things. She's back to being herself again, which is just...well, things are much better now. By a long shot.

For those who have never seen an epidural, I have to recommend it. It was totally awesome to watch. That was one big ol' needle.

Basically, we're all in a much happier place now, especially Meagan. She even has a happy button, which will increase the flow of the drugs to her spine. Most excellent.

Meagan just got measured, and despite the rather frequent and painful contractions, she's no more dilated than she has been for the last number of hours. Her doctor just said that we'll wait for a bit and then he's going to break her water. Apparently...well, that's gonna be the dealbreaker. It's almost showtime.

But now, thank heaven, we get some time to sleep. Hopefully we actually can. Nerves are coming and going for both of us.

Well, regardless of anything else, Meagan is now and shall forever sing praises to the epidural.


CHAPTER 6: BREAKING WATERS FLOW LIKE RIVER
7:35 AM

Most of this chapter will have to come from secondhand sources, as I was left completely and utterly unconscious through the entire thing. I'm a bit upset about that. Meagan says that they tried yelling at me and at one point her mom got up and was coming to shake me, but the doctor said that it was no big deal and that I should just sleep on. Seriously. I feel as though I've missed out on something.

The events go as follows: Meagan got a little bit of sleep. They checked her three or four times during the night and things looked good, except for the fact that her dilation had still only reached three by this morning. Not fast enough, they decided, and thus the hook was introduced.

For those not aware, water breaking is when the amniotic sac is ruptured and all the "water" (that's in quotes because it's a lot harder to say, "Wow, Meagan, look, your sac of grotesque goo is breaking!") rushes on out. This is usually a naturally occurring thing, but it can be done artificially to drive labor. And how is it done artificially? In essence...a crochet hook. The doctor reaches it up there, hooks the sac, twists it around the hook, and yanks. Voila! Instant rupture!

Apparently it's worked. They checked her half an hour later and she had dilated a full centimeter more. She's still got quite a ways to go. In fact, according to the dilation standards, she has only now officially entered "active labor" (4-7 cm). The baby is delivered at 10. We're hoping she can make it there on her own and in a timely manner. We'll keep this updated as to her hopefully speedy progress.

As a final note, it is with a very humble heart that I acknowledge a grievous error in my "No News" chapter. I said nothing much had happened on August 5th in history, but Meagan's dad corrected me with the information that the Beatles album Revolver was released on August 5, 1966. HOW DID I MISS THAT? I am now throwing around ideas for a Revolver-based middle name for the baby, like "Lydia Taxman Severson." Or "Lydia Dr. Robert Severson." Or "Lydia Tomorrow Never Knows Severson."

THIS IS NOT LIKELY TO HAPPEN. Alas.


CHAPTER 7: MO DRUGS MO BETTER
8:25 AM

Well, they measured Meagan again and, alas, she hasn't dilated any more. As such, pitocin has finally been introduced. They have her on a very slow drip, hopefully just enough to get her body into more of a labor-y state.

And....that's about it.


CHAPTER 8: BREVITY
9:50 AM

The baby isn't reacting well to the pitocin drip. Her heartbeat is sort of erratic, and Meagan's body isn't ready for labor. She's going in to have a c-section immediately. Will update later.

-Aunt's insert-
Meagan and Tyler are in the delivery room getting ready for the c-section. They seemed pretty nervous, but we're confident that everything is ok! They should be out soon and we'll be posting pictures of my new little niece.

CHAPTER 9: ALL IS WELL
11:43 AM

Everything went just fine. Meagan and the baby are both doing fine. Thank you all for your prayers and concern. I'll post more later, but be aware that everything is just fine.

CHAPTER 10: BEGINNINGS
1:09 PM

Well, she's here! Lydia Rose Severson was born at 10:24 AM on August 5, 2008. She weighs 7 pounds and 13 ounces, and is 20 inches long. She's mostly bald, but has some thin but hopefully promising strawberry blond hair. In fact, here, I'll start putting up pictures:


And there's our little girl.

Meagan's c-section went very well. Her doctors were very skilled and very fast with their work. Meagan had a curtain blocking her view, but I watched most of the proceedings. I guess anesthesia makes a man bold, because the doctors were just ripping into Meagan. Luckily, she was blissfully unaware of everything going on.

The doctors brought Lydia out and she tried a couple of pretty weak cries before really getting the hang of it. And then she kept going for a while, all through her cleaning and weighing. Apparently there was a little bit of fluid in her lungs that would only come out if she kept crying, and...well, she did. She's since stopped, and her breathing sounds much better. Now she's pretty intent on sleeping, even refusing the chance to eat in favor of catching some z's.

There has been a lot of emotion running around my mind. I had a really hard time controlling myself for a while. I don't really know exactly what it was, but it was generally good. I don't even think there was a lot fear there. Don't get me wrong, the fear came later, but while I was in the nursery with Lydia when Meagan was getting stitched up...well, there was a lot going on in my mind.

Now we're all together in the Mothers/Babies floor...I guess it's our first time together as a family. It seems to make sense. That sounds like an odd way to describe it, but that's how it feels. Nothing here feels illogical or strange. It just feels like this is the way it is supposed to be. It makes sense to my heart and mind.

Pregnancy Update

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Yes, I am in fact still giving pregnancy updates. My due date was on Monday, so I'm 2 days overdue. I went to the doctor and he said that it didn't look like I was getting the much closer. I had a feeling that would be the case, but I was still hoping. Luckily though, he did promise to induce me after my next appointment if I still haven't given birth. That means that I will have had the baby by Tuesday, August 5th. It makes me feel a lot better to have a light at the end of the tunnel.

In the meantime, he gave me a 50/50 chance of having the baby before then. It seems that both Tyler and my mother are rooting for Monday. My mother because her plane ticket is for Friday, and Tyler because he has an Organic Chemistry test on Friday. They both made me promise that I wouldn't go into labor before then. I told them that I'd give the baby the message. But I have a secret...I didn't give the baby the message. I'd like her to come sooner rather than later, so it's all good to me if she came today.

Anyways, life is good here at the Seversons. Tyler's still studying and working away like usual, and I'm just chilling waiting to pop. It's been pretty boring not having a job and not having a baby yet. I'm glad I quit when I did, though, because I haven't been feeling fantastic and I've been sleeping a lot.

We'll post the good news and pictures as soon as we have some good news and pictures to post. Thanks for caring about us!

Getting Really Close

Thursday, July 24, 2008

It's been a fun week for me. Last Thursday, my little sister Hannah came to visit for a few days. She's 10 years younger than me and I've never had much of a chance to spend a lot of time with her. Unfortunately, I was still working and then I had a few days of not feeling very well, so it wasn't the best visit ever. We did take her school shopping, though, which was fun. We got her lots of cute clothes. In case any of you guys don't know, Tyler is a great shopping partner. I think he really likes to go shopping. Hannah would be in there trying stuff on and he would be getting the sales people to help him find a shirt that matched a particular jacket, or trying to get their opinion on an outfit. It was really cute.

On Monday, I went to SLC and picked up my brother Dayne from the airport. While there, I dropped Hannah off with the aunt she's been staying with. Dayne left on his mission yesterday, but for the few days he was here, we had a lot of fun. I took him shopping for the little things he still needed and we mostly just hung out the whole time. It was nice to be able to spend some time with him and see him of at the MTC. I'm sure he'll be a great missionary.

Unfortunately, this week wasn't nearly so fun for Tyler. He's studying away at Organic Chemistry. He has a test on Friday and has been working hard for an A. He keeps telling me that I can't go into labor until after he takes the test on Friday, but we'll see.

Speaking of that, I'm only 4 days away from my due date! I went to the doctor on Monday and he said that I will probably at least go that far, but I'm hoping it'll be sooner. I know most first babies are late, so probably I will go late too, but that doesn't mean I can't hope. Today I'm going to go walk around the mall for a while (it's too hot to walk outside) and see if I can get things moving.

Oh, one final thing. Our hamster finally figured out what it's running wheel is for. She's had it for 2 months and has never actually run on it. Then last night, she ran on it for like 2 hours strait. We are very proud of her for figuring it out.

Hopefully our next post will be some good news!

Fatherhood Weighs Upon Me

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Meagan is due with our first baby in less than two weeks, and it's put a lot on my mind. That being said, I shamefully present:

Reasons I Will Probably Be A Terrible Father

1. I still enjoy off-brand macaroni and cheese with hot dogs cut up in it. If I'm feeling ambitious, I'll make grilled cheese to go with it.

2. My suggestion for decorating the baby's room consisted of a picture of Jesus next to a poster of the Beatles, "so the baby would know who the five most important people ever are."

3. If asked, "Do you prefer to wear pants or not?" my answer is always the less socially acceptable one.

4. When my child enters Sunbeams class at church, she will very likely raise her hand and ask if they can sing "Stairway to Heaven" after "I am a Child of God."

5. When my children ask questions like, "Why is the sky blue?" there is a strong chance that I will mention the electromagnetic spectrum and absorption patterns.

6. I can't even remember to clean my hamster's cage.

7. I won't have a real job until I'm in my mid-thirties. This further means that my child and I will most likely have "homework time" together at the dinner table. When she asks if I can help her with her spelling words, I may reply, "Yes, but only if you help me with gross anatomy."

8. Most things that touch my hands strike the floor shortly afterward. I may end up developing a very short bungee cord that ties around my wrist and her ankle, just to prevent such issues. I will attempt to market this device and make approximately $7.43.

I'm sure there are more. I'll post as they occur.

Pregnant Pics

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

I went to a wedding this weekend and there was a picture taken of me and my pregnant belly. Since my camera isn't working and I have received requests for such a picture, I have decided to post it on my blog. Here ya go:

Update by Meagan

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Well, Tyler has pretty much all out refused to include a family update, so I have decided that I will. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find the cord to our digital camera, so pictures are not available. Sorry to all those who have requested to see my pregnant belly. It's a sight, to be sure, but not one that I can share.

I guess I'll start with me. I am now 31 weeks pregnant, meaning I am only 9 weeks away from my due date. It's pretty intimidating when I think about it for very long, but it still doesn't really seem real. Time is going pretty quick, but I am told that the last few weeks just drag by. We'll see, I guess.

The pregnancy part is going very well. I've only had a few inconveniences. My back hurts if I sit strait for about 5 minutes or more. It's weird that I have to slouch to be comfortable, but that's the way it is. Also, I am starting to get so big now that I can't bend over to pick things up very comfortably. I guess that will just get worse too, but it's defiantly interesting.

As most of you know, a few weeks ago, we got a 3D ultrasound of our baby and it was confirmed again that it is, in fact, female. It was really fun to be able to feel it move and see it move on the screen.





Other than things having to do with the baby, I'm not doing a whole lot right now. I'm working full-time still selling cell phones for Verizon, and plan on continuing until the middle of July, or whenever my doctor tells me to stop.

Tyler is busy working on Organic Chemistry this summer, taking both classes accelerated over the shorter summer semesters. It's good, because he can focus on the classes without distraction, but it is also a lot more difficult. He has a test every other weekend over several chapters.

He just got a new job that he starts on Tuesday, but isn't very proud of it, so I won't go into much detail. It fits his schedule, though, so we can't complain too much.

Besides his job, Tyler is also doing some work on the side doing reviews for non-fiction books for an LDS publishing company. It is proving to be an interesting side job because he gets to read some really different material. Basically, he lets the publishing company know if it is really worth publishing or not.

We are both also doing an online service called ChaCha, where we answer questions that people text in. We get to do it whenever we want, and average about 6 dollars an hour. So, it's not the most lucrative of things, but we can do it while we watch television and it's paid for more than one date night.

Besides school and work, Tyler has just started volunteering in a hospital ER for a few hours every week. This will give him good experience for medical school, because he gets to be around medical stuff and it doesn't look half bad on his application either. He's only done it one week so far, but he has already enjoyed the time he has spent.

Aromatherapy to the Extreme

Monday, March 24, 2008

My nose has been having an interesting time of things lately. It's interesting to specify a certain part of my face as having "times" at all, but my olfactory senses have been pushed to extremes lately.

To start with the bad: I had the funk in my fridge for sure.

It all started with a lovely pot of chicken soup I cooked up back in November. It ends there too, but it does so five months later. I wish we had eaten it instead of letting it mellow in the fridge for all eternity, but that mistake can't be undone. Regardless, the soup was devoured by something...I think it's a unique kind of mold. And this mold, which I named Miguel, caused the most unholy odor to set up camp in our fridge. It was getting to the point where an exorcist was the next step. I swear the fridge was not far off from head-spinning and projectile vomiting. I think I heard it call my name in the middle of the night.

The unfortunate part is that the spirit of Funk did not just infect the fridge. That would have been bearable. No, it got into all the food. Even the food that was ziplock-bagged. It even got into the SHELLS OF THE EGGS. I swear this is not an exaggeration. MY SCRAMBLED EGGS TASTED LIKE FUNK. It was inescapable, and the lack of delicious food started to drain my will to live.

My wife tells me I am making this up.

I'm not.

At last, when I could handle it no more, I cleaned the fridge. It was nasty. It's been a week, and Meagan and I are STILL arguing over who gets to evict Miguel from his soupy home (we need that pot back...and yes, I am saying that we haven't cleaned it yet). But the tough part is that even after the fridge was squeaky clean, it still had funk! It was incredible, but the funk would not let go!

I almost cried.

After some extensive use of vinegar and baking soda (even mixing them once! Volcano!), I have the fridge mostly good. But it still goes day to day. Sometimes the funk reappears. Sometimes it's completely gone. It's impossible to predict, and I fear I have given the funk the impression that it is welcome to squat in my fridge. Funk, if you are reading this, rest assured that you are NOT welcome. It's hard, but that's the way these things go.

On to the good part for my nose:

My wife got neat soap. For the shower. It's a translucent green bar that smells of cucumber melon.

And it has become an addiction.

A SEXY addiction.

It's one of those scents that's just barely androgynous enough to be either feminine or manly, depending on what you do with it. It's like the David Bowie of scents. After adding my manly-man deodorant to the mix, I smell like a fragrant man-beast. The Creature from Bath and Body Works.

I love this soap.

And it's almost gone.

Mass purchases are on the horizon.

Maybe this time I can get Sun-Ripened Peach.

It's 95% Certain That It's A Girl!

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Or at least 95% certain that it lacks man parts.

Apparently ultrasound results for the ladyfolk are more difficult to read than for the gents. As such, our doctor wouldn't give us better than a 95% chance that the fetus is a girl.

But we're pretty sure it's a girl.

Hooray!

The visit to the doctor went very well. Despite being all kinds of bulgy, Meagan has still only put on three pounds from her original weight. I'm personally pretty confused about this, and have since decided that the law of conservation of mass is, in fact, bunk.

The ultrasound was good. The baby looks pretty creepy...I mean, the ultrasound doesn't really differentiate between skin and bone, so the first thing we see is this creepy skull-face looking out at us. I mean...ahh! It was pretty funky. Big empty eye sockets with little teeth...


As such, the child is currently nicknamed "Skeletor."


The baby put its (her?) hand up against the womb, as though to tell us to bugger off...or to give us a high five. Either way, I have great desires to edit this photo so that only the middle finger is extended, but Meagan thinks this in poor taste. I think she's crazy.

On the upside, there are five fingers, at least on that hand. So far, so good.

After the ultrasound, in a way that I'm almost certain was symbolic in some form or another, we ate hot dogs. I personally suggested that we go to Taco Bell, but this idea was met with scorn.

So, with that, we are, I suppose, accepting all forms of charitable donations that are oriented toward female childrens. We are also willing to hear decent names (though I'm personally pretty darned set on Lydia. I've just fallen in love with that name). So...hit us with your best shot.

Greetings

Sunday, March 9, 2008

To all my Facebook friends:

Hello!

(This is in reference to someone I've never met coming up to me today and saying, "Hi Tyler, I loved your blog," and my response of, "....Hi, my name is Tyler." I was quickly rebuffed because "We're Facebook friends!" and I should know better.

What a jerkface I am.)

Stupid Fish and Other Tales of Death and Woe

Friday, March 7, 2008

This is the winter of my discontent. This post will most likely seem scattershot and lacking in segue. This is likely because my brain is currently being boiled with a liberal dash of cold virus. The steam is trapped inside my head, as my plugged sinuses offer it nowhere to escape. Thus, explosion may occur. If I suddenly stop in midsentence, you'll know why.

Now like I was saying, this week



























































Ha ha, I'm so witty.

Our fish died today. We had him for five days. He was an idiot. I attribute this to his fishness.

He was a betta that we never got around to naming. Names such as "Mediocrites" and "Idiot Fish" got thrown around, but nothing really stuck. He didn't like to eat, which is probably why he is dead. He was too dumb to even die right...instead of floating belly-up, like normal fish, he buried his head in the rocks at the bottom of his vase. And there he is...head on the bottom, like a moron.

Stupid fish.

As for me, I am taking a reluctant day off. I don't like being idle...there's always something I can do, and not doing any of it just makes me really nervous. But I can't focus enough to make something happen, so I'm trying to just let it go. My wife is lovely and accommodating and made me a pitcher of juice. This makes her wonderful. As do other things, but cranberry juice is high on the list for the moment.

Tragically, while trying to relax, I tried to play a video game. That wasn't the tragedy. The tragedy was that all of my video gaming implements are at a friend's house and I have none. Thus, no games for me. Sadness and woe.

My goal with this post is to depress the world. I'll be paying attention to liquor sales. If there's a spike...I will consider my job done.

May you all not get sick.

Honorable Discharge

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

First off, yes, I probably did write this post mostly just to use that title. Deal.

Well, the saga has come to somewhat of a close. What saga? The belly button story, of course! As you can read in my last blog entry, a few weeks ago my navel started to bleed and ooze and hurt a lot for no discernible reason. Not being a fan of my lifefluids oozing out of me, I thought that it would be wise to have someone of a medical nature take a look at it. I scheduled a doctor's appointment as soon as I could, but even this was a bit of a fiasco, since this whole mess happened over a three-day weekend. Of course, the doctors all took a three-day weekend too, which I'm not sure is safe. In any case, by the time I got in there, most of the problem had taken care of itself. This, of course, did not help my case.

The nurse called me back and did all the standard check-up procedures. She then sat down at the computer, innocently expecting to transcribe a standard medical problem.

"What's the problem?"

"Well....a few days ago my navel started to bleed and ooze. I figured I should see someone."

There was a long pause. And a grimace.

"That's awful."

"Yeah, I'm not too thrilled with it myself."

She typed it into the computer and left the room. I'm certain she went straight to her other nurse friends to talk about the gross guy in room five.

My doctor showed up eventually, and the first thing he said was something to the effect of, "Dr. Morrison down the hall is a surgeon, and he really wants to see this, so I'm going to bring him in, OK?"

Let me tell you, there is no thrill equal to that of being a medical novelty. "Dude...you gotta come check this guy out. Gross!"

In any case, I was quickly on my back with two doctors passing a viewer back and forth. For those of you who remember the thing they use to look in your ears...yeah, that's what they used in my navel, or "umbilicus," in those ol' medical terms. This was, of course, a pretty painful experience. "Doctor, it hurts when I do this!" "Well, let me do that! Over and over! And then some more!"

Eventually they both had their fill of gazing into my navel, and, completely ignoring the presence of the actual patient, conversed with each other about what had happened and what to do about it. I guess they just hoped that I would follow along. I did manage to ask my original doctor why this was so intriguing. His response? "We see this all the time in babies, but never in big people!"

Oh, good then.

I walked out with a prescription for antibiotics and the promise of an appointment in a week with a surgeon in order to, and this is really what they said, "ream it out."

Ream: verb. 1. To form, shape, taper, or enlarge (a hole or bore, for example) with or as if with a reamer. 2. To remove (material) by this process.

Yeah. That's right.

So, I took my three giant pills each day and started feeling pretty good about things. No more big pain, no more bleeding. Keen!

Thursday came, however, and with it the promise of a thorough reaming. I showed up and again assumed the position. The ever-garrulous Dr. Morrison stood over me armed with Q-Tips and some forceps. I'm not sure exactly what he did with it, though I would be inclined to believe that the Q-Tip was actually made of steel wool. I wasn't in a great position to watch, but there was pain, and there was blood. That's about all I know. I walked out with yet another bloody cotton "stuffing" and pain upon motion. And, of course, the promise of a follow up on Monday.

Monday came, and the lovely Dr. Morrison, patron saint of good conversation, entered the room and pulled out the ear-looking-thingie. I will never look at one of those in the same way.

"There's some healing tissue...it should still be tender."

POKE.

"Did that hurt?"

"Yes."

Didn't he just promise me that it was going to hurt? Could he just not have left that one to faith?

The good doctor told me that I need to keep it dry (this has resulted in a most entertaining use of a blowdryer). Hopefully this prevents it from happening again. In the meantime, I have now added one more disease to my list of "Weird Crap that Never Happens to Anyone Else." Here's hoping for leprosy next!

Poll

Friday, February 22, 2008


Long Time, No Blog

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Much has happened in recent days. As has been her trend for the last four months, Meagan continues to be pregnant. We are, for the most part, pleased with her progress. She seems to be pretty healthy and has on occasion, for reasons inexplicable, bemoaned her fate to have such an easy and non-sick pregnancy. Why she would complain about this is beyond this writer.

Our Valentine's Day was subdued. We both had a lot of things to do that day, so we woke up early and worked on everything that had to be done. It proved successful, as we were able to leave campus by three o'clock and go to lunch together. We then drove around, walked around, and generally got around together. It wasn't much, but it was nice to spend so much time together, even if there did have to be some grocery shopping involved. We returned home and enjoyed each other's company for the rest of the evening. Simple times, but good ones.

As a preface to V-Day, we decided to adopt some tulips into our family. The part that we didn't expect was that I would fall completely in love with the flowers. Yes, I am completely aware of how intensely femmy that sounds. I just don't care. I loved those flowers. They were bright and alive and responsive to my care, and that made me feel like I was contributing something to the world. It was nice for the few days that they brightened our living room. Alas, despite the best care I knew how to offer, the flowers soon began to wilt and drop petals. It was a sad time for me. I was in denial for a while (maybe they just need more water! Yeah, more water! That will bring them back!) but now I've come to accept their death and have trimmed the flowers in hopes of salvaging the bulbs for another season. I miss you, flowers!

But the fun doesn't stop there! A few days ago, much to my puzzlement, my navel began to hurt. This part of me is usually one to which I'm not really attentive. I mean, who notices their belly button is there? Answer: I have for the last few days. Every breath or movement that influences the navel in any way caused me a decent amount of pain. "That's pretty weird," I thought as I went to bed on Saturday night. Sunday morning, I awoke with my shirt covered with blood and pus. It hasn't stopped oozing since. Apparently...something is infected. This is not normal. Nor is it fun. I have to constantly wear a pad or stuff the navel with gauze...which is just odd. Meagan, of course, is delighted by the idea that in some strange and twisted way, I now understand the difficulties that accompany a period. I was rather disgusted by that idea...but despite my disgust I have to acknowledge that it's a pretty good summary. I'm going to the doctor tomorrow...hopefully it's nothing.

Meagan and I are always working on school stuff...well...I am always working on school stuff and Meagan is procrastinating it. But it usually (read: sometimes) gets done.

Band of the Week: Drive-By Truckers. Amazing country rock. Those who know me will quickly admit that it must be amazing to make me say something positive about country music. But man...it's good stuff. I have the privilege of going and seeing them in concert tomorrow night. This is surely a suicide move, as I have three tests and some big assignments due this week, but hey, how often do you get to go see a new favorite play live?

Oh, and in breaking news, Meagan called me to say that she's 95% sure she just felt the baby move. This is in line with the timing, so...cool! It lives! The fun part is that it decided to make its presence known while "Long Time" by Boston was being played loudly on the radio. Meagan thinks it may have been asking her to turn it down. Daddy hopes otherwise.

Second Trimester Ahoy!

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Well, I've finally reached what is apparently known as the easiest of the three trimesters. At week fourteen, all of my queasy symptoms and food aversions are gone. It's great. I am also starting to show now. Yesterday I went and bought a bunch of basic maternity clothes and was suprised at how cute a lot of them were. The jeans I bought were just as cute as most of the regular kind I can find. Both Tyler and I are excited because in a few weeks we get to find out the gender. Most everyone is hoping for a girl, but we'll see. I was looking online today and found out that I will be able to feel the baby moving in a few weeks. That's something I haven't really given much thought to but I think that I am going to start looking forward to it. We'll try to post a picture of how I look soon (just a little bit showing).

Kermit Eats a Kitten

Saturday, January 26, 2008


Today I was looking on the local classifieds website for baby stuff and as I was looking through the listings for Cribs I found this picture. Both Tyler and I were very deeply disturbed by the image. Why is Kermit eating a Kitten's head? Why would someone post that picture in the crib classifed section? What the heck?

My Rodent Vinnie

Saturday, January 19, 2008

The first subject of this blog comes as a question:

Is it femmy to watch some parts of the performance of "Seal on Ice" featuring Kristi Yamaguchi?

As the man who rewound "Kiss From A Rose" no less than four times, I submit that it is not.

Moving on.

The Severson family, as some of you may have heard, has a new addition. He's adorable, but a bit pesky, like many family members. He's bold and intelligent. And we've tried to kill him twice now.

We have a mouse. But this mouse is not ordinary. No, this mouse has some real chutzpah. The other day while I was sitting on the couch, he runs out across the living room. In broad day light. I think if he had fingers, his middle one would have been extended. I realized that this was odd, so I went to check the trap we had set for him. I found it still loaded, but licked perfectly clean. That's the second trap he did that to, thought I. Though no one was there but my rodent nemesis and I, I spoke aloud, "That was gutsy." I think he understood me, for later he made another living room appearance. But this time he stepped it up a notch. He climbed up the back of the loveseat and sat poised atop it, his wide black eyes staring at me. It was as though he was trying to demonstrate his lack of fear for me.

One must respect such a fearless opponent.

Unfortunately, he ate into one of my bags of flour. Thus...I want him out. And so we embark on mousetrap mark three, trying the harmless Mice Cube. This one lures him inside and slams the door behind him, leaving him alive in the tube. I don't think I could handle killing a mouse such as this one. I'm actually campaigning right now to adopt him and name him Vinnie, but this may turn out to be in vain. Only time can tell. If Vinnie cannot be mine, then we will take him far away to the canyon where he can roam free.

That is, of course, assuming that he doesn't manage to steal the cube and make it into some private mouse jacuzzi.

Right now...all bets are off.

Baby Names

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

I have started a baby names list where people can vote on whether or not they like the names. We will probably be adding and taking away from the list, so if you want, you can check back relatively often. The link to the list is

VOTE on my Name List

Also, as a disclaimer, the names listed are ones that either Tyler or I and not necessarily both of us like.

Due Date & New Semester

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Oh, so just letting anyone know, the official due date for our baby is July 29, 2008. Everything's going well so far. In fact, it's going better than could be hoped for. I haven't barely been sick at all.

As far as everything else going on here, Tyler and I just started class yesterday, and it looks like it's going to be a very difficult and busy semester for the both of us. I'm working 30 hours a week and taking 16 of the hardest classes of my major, and Tyler is taking some of his hardest pre-med classes. We'll both be fine, but the next 4 months or so are definitely going to be interesting.

First Post of the New Year

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Happy New Year from the Seversons!

To celebrate the new year, Meagan had her first real pregnancy hormonal freak-out. It was pretty awesome.

The lovely lady was trying to get an ice cube for a cup of root beer, but managed to pull both ice trays out of the freezer, spilling ice all over the floor. Despite the fact that she knew it was absolutely ludicrous, she started to cry. I stepped over to hug her, calming her down for a minute. She went back to get one cube and put it in her cup, but the cup fell over and that one ice cube fell onto the floor. The crying began once more, mingled with laughter. Hers and mine.

Christmas was good. We went back to Arkansas, and got stuck there for many, many days. United Airlines decided that flying was not, in fact, their business, and as such they canceled two of our flights. It was stressful to deal with the airline, but it was really nice to be able to have a few extra days with the family.

Since returning, we've been preparing for the upcoming semester. Meagan will be returning to school and is thrilled to learn how to pronounce totalitarianism. I'll be learning business and bio, chemistry and information systems. Such a strange mixture.