2010 - A Reflection

Here are some highlights from the year (in no particular order):

- Mark finishes his commitment to the Air Force.

- Mark joins the faculty at the University of Oklahoma Children's Hospital.

- We vacationed with friends to the Plainview Cabin in Cowles, New Mexico. It was Ellen's first time at the cabin in 10+ years!

- Ellen continues to love her job and will be able to work part-time as a project manager at the food bank in 2011.

- The Oklahoma City Thunder! We went to the third game of the playoffs. The crowd was electric and the Thunder won!

- Ellen's parents celebrated their 60th birthdays.

- Mark ran his 2nd half marathon.

- The death of Ellen's grandmother and her Uncle Fred.

- Mark's mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and she has courageously gone through chemo and radiation.

- We made two trips to St. Louis.

- We continued our tradition of attending one MU football game a year by going to the MU vs. IL game.

- Finally visited Tulsa with our dear friends the Sips.

- Celebrated our five-year anniversary in Dallas!

- Broken elbow at 34 wks pregnant.

- Ellen finally overcame her fear of needles due to the pregnancy and elbow surgery!

- We started a garden and a compost.

- Ellen agrees to a family room addition to the house. (This is at least five years away, but Mark wanted it in writing.)

- 2010 was the year of babies!!

- Thankful for family and friend support over the last year!

Everything Clark in 2010:

- Finding out we were going to have a baby!

- Sharing the news with our friends and family

- Feeling Clark in the womb through constant movement and hiccups!

- The anticipation of not knowing if we were going to have a boy or girl

- Baby showers! So many people wanted to celebrate his upcoming arrival with us.

- Meeting Clark for the first time

- All the firsts since! It has truly reshaped our life in the best way possible!

-

He smiles!

Clark is having a few issues sleeping the second half of the night. These issues have coincided with his parents also having difficulty sleeping during the same time period! Even with a varied sleeping schedule, Clark is a morning person. His best smiles are in the morning!

Happy One Month!!

We can't believe our little man is already one month old! We are so lucky to have a happy healthy little boy! Mark or I will try to update at least once a month with his milestones, likes and dislikes and of course his little adventures.

One Month Milestones:

- He no longer cries during tummy time. He seems content to look around and he typically brings his fist to his mouth. Mark and I are afraid that he is going to be a thumb sucker like I was!

- He can grasp objects with his hands. This includes our hands and objects that are dangled in front of him.

- He sleeps well through the first half of the night. (I am knocking on wood!) The second half of his bedtime sleep is a little more rocky.

- He listens to stories during his alert time. His favorite story (aka Mom's favorite story) is To Market To Market. It is a very funny story that is a twist on the Mother Goose version. Clark and I laugh every time we read it.

- He is starting to make eye contact with us for longer periods of time. Since he can now see 12 inches, I believe he recognizes Mark's and my face.

What he loves (note that most of his loves deal with motion):

- Bouncing in someone's arms or in his bouncy chair

- Dancing

- Going up and down stairs

- Car rides

- Hair dryers

- Going on walks

- Swing

- Music

- Sleep Sheep

What he does not love:

- bath time

- being naked

- diaper changes

- University of kansas

Below are pictures from the first month:

The Clarks came to visit!

Clark's shirt says "100% Good Most of the Time"!
Clark's first Missouri game. We beat Iowa State!
Clark's first Thanksgiving with the Pogemillers! He wore three Thanksgiving themed shirts that day: "I'm Stuffed," "My First Thanksgiving," and our favorite"I'm Thankful for Mommy and Daddy"
Uncle Bret visited us the day after Thanksgiving!

The Pogemillers again!

Nona came back to help us out!
Clark's first visit with Santa. He was able to meet him at our neighborhood children's party.
Clark's buddy Rex!
Clark dressed up in his warmest outfit. The high that day was in the 30s!

Nancy Wins the Baby Pool!!

Congratulations to my Aunt Nancy for winning the baby pool!! She guessed that we were having a boy on November 17th. She also guessed that the baby would be over 7lbs. When Nancy asked me to put in her guess, I balked at the idea of having a 7 lb baby. Both Mark and I were small babies and a 7lb baby sounded huge! Nancy - we will bring you a little prize when we come to Austin for the holidays!

It is a boy!

After 41 weeks of waiting, our little bundle of joy finally decided he was ready to enter the world! I want to first set up the timeline, so that we will remember it too. On Sunday night, I was having regular contractions and we decided to go to the hospital. I arrived at the hospital in my typical perky demeanor and filled out our hospital forms (all indicators that I was actually not in labor!). To my disappointment, I had only dilated to 1 cm. Mark and I returned home and prepared for another day of no baby.

Literally twenty-four hours later, I was having regular painful contractions. We decided to go back to the hospital. This time I was dilated to 6 cm and was checked in! We were going to meet this baby soon. After being transferred to our labor and delivery room, we called my parents to let them know. Initially they were going to wait to drive up that morning, but after 30 minutes they decided to drive up to Oklahoma City in the middle of the night.

After 15 hours of labor, Clark Thomas Pogemiller entered the world! Mark and I both suspected that we were having a boy, but it was so cool to have Mark share the news with me. Clark weighed in at 7 lbs 4 oz and he was 19.5 inches.

Clark shares his birthday with his Grandpa Pogemiller. He was also born on the day that Oklahoma became a state!

Our newest trick for getting BP out of the womb!

As you all know, I have passed my due date. My last day of work was last Friday, so I have been sitting around googling ways to naturally induce. I have gone on tons of walks, eaten pineapple, made spicy dishes, cleaned the entire house and anything else other women have suggested. In the end, Mark and I believe that the theories are just stories that women tell about what they did the day before they went into labor.

Our child is too smart to fall for some of these old wives' tales. Now, Mark and I didn't know how smart BP was until a few weeks ago. Mark received a letter from the 2011 LeadAmerica Conference.

In the letter, there was a certificate of recognition that stated "In Recognition of Academic Excellence, Extracurricular Involvement and Leadership Potential the Board of Directors and Honorary Board of Advisors Invite Child of Mark Pogemiller to attend the 2011 LeadAmerica National Student Conference." We beamed with pride after this letter, but we realize now that we are dealing with a very special child.

So today, we took a different approach to coaxing BP out of the womb. We call the approach "the hook".

Here are some examples of the hook:

1) This morning I read half of "The Little Engine that Could". I didn't finish the book, so BP doesn't know whether the engine makes it over the big hill. Therefore, we have hooked BP into a story that he/she can only hear the ending in the outside world.

2) Mark has been telling the beginning of jokes, but not the punch line. For example, "A priest, a rabbi and superman walk into a bar and the bartender says..." Hooked!

3) Finally, we have narrated all the fun events of today. This morning Mark and I went for walk on a woody path and we marvelled at the foliage, but lamented that only people in the outside world could enjoy this beauty. Hooked!!

I am not sure if the new approach will work, but Mark and I have been hamming it up all day.

The Waiting Game!

We have officially entered the waiting game! Friday was my last day of work and so now it is really becoming a reality! Mark and I have been enjoying our last few weeks before BP arrives. We went to the OU game last weekend with friends and this weekend we are enjoying more outings with friends. Tomorrow, we are finally going to have brunch at the art museum and enjoy the new exhibit. People keep asking us if we are ready and I think we can both confidently say YES. I mean as ready as you can be!

Below are a few pictures from the past couple of weeks including the home opener for the OKC Thunder game. I have also included the third stage of my elbow process. It is a one size fits all brace, so it fits me perfectly!!