Posted by & filed under Baby, Front Page, Mary, Personal.

Mary didn’t want to sleep last night. Perhaps it was the new house, maybe she slept too much during the day or it was too much excitement coming home from the hospital. Or it could have all been gas. Who knows? I doubt even little Mary does.

We, foolishly, let her sleep until 2000 (part of the reason is because the time went by so fast that we didn’t realize how late it was). We, and by we I mean mostly Sherri, fed her and got her ready for bed then we spent the next 3 hours trying to get her to sleep. We set up a pack ‘n play in our room that also doubles as a bassinet so that we could keep her close but every time we laid her down she started to cry. We tried all sorts of things. A fresh diaper, bouncing around the room a little, leg kicks, singing, pacifiers, bottles, breast milk, etc. But she wasn’t having any of it. She was crying at a pitch audible only to dogs (and mommies and daddies, well, and probably a great part of our neighborhood).

Finally, I collapsed into a rocking chair with her and rocked her and she quieted down and would take a pacifier. At around midnight we laid her down in the pack ‘n play and she slept for a bit but I woke up at 0120 when Sherri was laying down (painfully due to the C-section) for the who-knows-how-many’th time and the next time she cried I got up with her and changed her diaper and rocked her for about an hour. Sherri took her for the rest of the night and rocked with her so that she slept until I woke up and got ready for work around 0600.

Thank goodness Sherri’s parents are here because Nana Turner was able to take her this morning so that Sherri could pump and rest for a few hours. Sherri says that she slept with her during that 0200 – 0600 time period but that couldn’t have been too restful. It is a good thing that I had my “Cool Daddy” t-shirt, that Corinne got me, on or I may not have been able to handle it.

We hope that she sleeps tonight or that Abu-Ghraib stuff will look like nothing in comparison when Mary is done with us.

Posted by & filed under Baby, Front Page, Mary, Personal.

Sherri is due to come home today. Hopefully she will be released after 1PM sometime. I am getting pictures up as fast as possible. Thank you all for the well wishes, phone calls, and emails. If I haven’t returned a call or email you will have to forgive me, we are concentrating on getting “the girls” home safe and sound.

Posted by & filed under Baby, Front Page, Mary, Personal.

We had our baby last night. Her name is Mary Elizabeth and she weighs 6.2 pounds and is 18-1/2″ long. I have posted some pictures online. Sherri is still at the hospital:

Penrose Community Hospital

3205 N. Academy Blvd.
Colorado Springs, CO 80917

Posted by & filed under Baby, Front Page, Personal.

I have added an announcement list on TheLloyds.Net homepage. This announcement list will only be used for news about the “New Baby”. Two weeks after the baby is born I will change the list to a different address for people that will still be interested in information from two new parents about their kid. This way you can safely sign up for the announcement list and not worry about unsubscribing since I will delete the list and all subscribers.

Once we are sure what “little gift” we are getting the new list will be set up and personalized for the baby. Once you add yourself to this list I’m afraid you are stuck on it until you remove your address or until the baby turns 48.

So sign up now!

Posted by & filed under Baby, Front Page, Personal.

Graco Quattro Tour Travel System in the box.Sherri and I went out to Babies R Us to get the stroller for the new baby this past weekend. Finding the right stroller was not the easiest task. A few months back, while we were registering for baby gifts I went to Consumer Reports’ website solely for the purpose of finding “the right” stroller and car seat. I paid for an annual subscription which ran me about $26. I read a bunch of articles in their baby section, and the article about strollers. The article was good and well written and the rating section was helpful. The problem was that I couldn’t find either of the top two strollers in the “Travel System” section (Safety 1st Acella Alumilite, and Graco GracoRider 7350) anywhere in town or online. I looked at the top stroller in “Traditional” section (Graco Quattro Tour 7111) and we bought the Graco Tour Travel System that we found at Babies R Us.

I was concerned that the Graco Tour Travel System would be too heavy or cumbersome for Sherri to use. She is 5′ tall and, prior to the pregnancy, about a buck soaking wet. Once we got it assembled and figured out how all the levers and switches worked she had no problem folding it up and unfolding it one handed. She was also able to lift it with both hands.

The stroller with the front wheels on but the back wheels still off and the stroller rear end resting on the ground.The instructions came in multiple languages with English and spanish side by side.The assembly was really easy. Once we got it out of the box all we had to do was snap on the front wheels then put in a metal rod on the back axle and snap on the rear wheels. There were plastic portions that snapped on in various places but the instructions were easy to follow. I know, I am a man and I am not supposed to follow instructions but if it makes you feel better I followed the Spanish version just to make it challenging.

Sherri trying to put the baby into the stroller.  She has the baby doll shoved under her left arm like a football.Me holding the stroller over my left folder.  You can see the baby doll in the seat facing down.After we got it together Sherri had to try it out and figure out how to get the baby in and out of the baby seat. She got one of her dolls and tried it out on the doll. I tried it too but I was much better at it.