What they don't teach you in school?

So,
I've been a dad for 18 days now and i've learned soo much already. Some I had a sense of already and some have blown my mind! For instance:
- My daughter has more clothes than I do
- I never thought socks could be cute
- Pete's Dragon should be considered one of the top movies.....ever!
- So should Peter Pan.
- I thought Aerosmith was crazy saying Pink is my favorite color....now I know why!
- God Bless the people at Johnson & Johnson
- I hope the Jonas Brothers are long gone before Addie knows what's going on.
- If we get 4 straight hours of sleep, it is a blessing.
- You can never have enough burp cloths.
- Hair bows are ok.
- I now drive the speed limit....sometimes a little too slow.
- Home cooked meals never tasted better.
- Addie perfectly conforms in between my man boobies and my belly.
- Poopy diapers are reason to celebrate.
- People come from all over to help out when you need them.
- I would be miserable if we still have 3.5 weeks left (due date was 0ct. 19th)
- How is it that a grown-ups lips are magnetically drawn to a baby's face every time they are in the same room?
- Finally, I think it would be pretty cool if I was the owner of stuffed animals that were as big as I was!

Thanks for thinking of us.

BP

2 Weeks down...100,000 to go

Sorry it has taken us so long to update the blog. Things have been pretty crazy around here as you can imagine adjusting to our new/wonderful/amazing life. Addison is the perfect baby. It is just taking mom and dad a while to get on her schedule. We have made it 2 weeks and have 100,000 more to go and I can't wait to see what those weeks hold for us.

So here is the recap for the last 2 weeks...
We came home (to Alabaster) Friday, September 12th. "Kim the Great" came home with us to help us get settled in. Monday, "NeNa" came to help us transition. We had to carry Addison to the doctor here in Alabaster for a weight check. She had lost down to 4lb 8oz. I was devastated! We also had to check her for jaundice. I was a nervous wreck until we carried her back on Thursday. When we went Thursday, she had gained 4oz and is now up to 4lb 12oz. Yea!

Things we enjoy...
I never appreciated naps during the day until now. I am learning to take a nap when Addie does. We also enjoy getting out and taking a stroll around the neighborhood, especially since the weather has been so wonderful. Watching Disney movies with Daddy has also got to be added to our list.

Looking forward to...
I can't wait to be able to take her out and show her off to people. The holidays will take on new meaning this year.

Well, thanks for putting up with all of my rambling. Here are a few pictures from the last two weeks. Enjoy!

A mother's perspective

Wow, that sounds so weird... "A mother's perspective." This actually applies to me now. I can't believe it. It is so surreal. I am loving every minute of it. Everything happened so fast that it is just now sinking in. I guess it would be safe to say that Addison likes holidays. We found out we were expecting on Valentine's Day, found out she was a girl on Mother's Day Weekend, and she was born on Grandparents' Day.

I am so grateful everything and everyone who played a special role in the last few days. When you begin your own family, it makes you think about how special and important family is. There is no way that I could have gotten through this without my loving husband. He was a great tower of strength through the whole process. He kept me calm and laughing. He was an excellent coach during labor.

Another key player in this whole thing was my mother. I could not have made it through this pregnancy without her guidance. It was very special to be able to share this moment with her. All girls dream of sharing the birth of their first child with their moms and I was lucky enough to do this and more. Not only does Addison and my mom share the same middle name, this birth was extra special for us because my mom actually got to deliver her first grandchild. It was a very special experience for me.

While my pregnancy was rather difficult, my labor was relatively easy, or so I thought. I didn't know half of what was going on until after delivery. I guess it was better for me not knowing all of the severity of the situation because it would have made my blood pressure rise into an even more dangerous level. After learning all of what had occurred during my labor, there is NO DOUBT that GOD was in control. With as many problems as I had and for Addison to not have a single problem and to be "perfect" according to her apgar score of 9/9, that is truly a miracle. I love being able to share these precious moments with family and friends. We are truly blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives.

Please continue to keep our family in your prayers as we recover and adjust to our wonderful new life. We are still not out of the woods yet as far as my blood pressure is concerned so we still have to be very cautious. Thank you to everyone for the calls, prayers and visits. Hopefully we will see you all soon! In the meantime, here are a few pictures for your enjoyment.

One of Addison's first photos
5 pounds, 1 ounce and 18 inches

Our family- 1 hour old
Addison- 12 hours old
20 hours old
Going home- 40 hours old

the best prizes in life come early - 6 weeks early!

September 7th, 2008 - 8:20 pm (that's 20:20 miltary)After only 25 minutes (!) in labor, Mattea gave birth to a beautiful 5.1 18" inch princess 6 weeks earlier than expected. Addison Kay Pavlick has some red hair, one dimple so far, lonnnnggg legs, long fingers, my forehead and nose, mattea's lips and chin! So basically, the cutest baby ever.

The fun started around 7 when they said we'll probably have another 2 hours or so. Once we dismissed everyone to go grab some dinner, we had to call them right back....Addison was coming and there was no stopping us. I got in the room and we began. Everyone would be really proud of mattea....for all the pain she had been in for the last 3 weeks, she gutted it out and fought like a pro. What she fought for was her "prize in the end" - our daughter.

As most of you know, there were a lot of "ifs" surrounding this impending birth. Would mattea have to go to UAB and not know any of the doctors instead of the ones she has known her whole life? Would something go wrong with the pregnancy given a 6 week premature notice? Once Addison was born, would she have to be air carried to UAB and have to leave mommy and daddy behind? Becaue of all your prayers, the answer was a resounding NO to all.

The visual of a baby coming into the world is a great moment, don't get me wrong. But I couldn't focus on that. I was more worried about keeping that cold washcloth on my wife's forehead. The moment that no one really picks up on is the moment the doctor puts the baby right in front of the mother. I was lucky...i didn't look at Addison then; I looked right at Mattea. My friends, I now know what "true love" looks like and i swells my heart typing this.

Chaos/Fun then ensued as the doctors and nurses cleaned her off, laughed and joked while my beautiful wife, 5 feet away from the baby, looked at ease and was finally relaxed. There is a great story about everyone with their ears outside the door listening for the cry of the baby. Once they heard it, everyone celebrated except one person, my dad. He leaned closer to the door. To him, the moment was not over, he needed to know one thing. All of a sudden, inside the room, he heard the newborn mother laugh. Dad pulled away from the door, sighed, looked at Mattea's father and said "Now, its ok, my girl's ok." I will probably always remember my dad for that one moment.

My big moment came when I got to hold Addison and they opened the door for me to go to the nursery. It may have only been 15-20 people but it looked like the subjects lining the grand palace just to get a glimpse of the new princess. I placed the baby in the nursery and started tickling her and talking to her when I looked at the nursery window. There were faces everywhere. it's funny because i could not have paid them to do this again but everyone fit perfectly in between everyone elses faces. Tall people above small people and middle people in between. They actually looked like the muppets! The only exception of course was matt (uncle buck) standing on his tipeetoes giving me the Borat thumbs up.

Of course, if you know me, this night was for everyone else. I spent a good majority of those next 2 hours letting everyone hug and hold my wife and see the princess. I just wanted to watch and see what joy a 5.1 lb girl to bring to everyone in the children's wing.

Finally, it was just the family. Pavlicks and Crows. Everyone got to take pictures and hold her. When she got to me, I did my 1-2-3s and ABCs. Guess what? She perked up and listened as if to say, now I know who's doing that. Friends, that moment was the greatest moment of my life to this date. Me and my wife and our child all getting to know each other for the first time.

For the rest of the night and today, its been dress up central and show-off after show-off. She is definately a little miss priss. But i appreciate all our friends and family stopping by and calling us to wish us well. I know you all want to help and I'll give you a tip how: Definately call/post/visit and let us know you're still praying for us but the honeymoon of the baby will wear off for a lot of people. Its the people that call and visit in the next couple of weeks when the baby has been here longer that will really make the difference.

I will try to post pics to the blog tonight/tomorrow. Thanks for all the prayers as mom and addison get to leave the hospital tomorrow. This truly was/is the miracle baby!

BP

Saturday Update

Hey everyone. I just got back to the crow house to shower and to update the blog. Mattea did well this morning and was laughing and cutting up until 2. At that time, I left to go to HER baby shower. Obviously she couldn't go and I had to open the gifts in her place. Yes, it was weird but I would've done it all over again if mattea asked me to. Thanks to all her friends and family members who sent gifts, came to the party, set up the party, etc. I truly had a blast trying to figure out who people were, what they bought us, and why everything was so pink!!

When I got back to the hospital around 3:30 pm, Mattea had suffered a terrible headache and their were to be no visitors. Her blood pressure skyrocketed in 30 minutes so they tried to cool her off and gave her some medicine for her nausea. This lasted until around 6. She told me to go with my mom, her sister and Mrs Willett to go eat. We did and when we got back, mattea was fine.

The doctor is keeping a close eye on this. We are still trying to make it to monday, but if this keeps happening, we'll either have to start inducing tonight or sometime tomorrow.

Once again, everybody is really cool and calm about this and God is in control. I can't blame Addison for wanting to come out. Who wouldn't want to meet parents as cool as Mattea and me as soon as possible? :)

Thanks again everyone and have a great night.

BP

"48 - 72 Hours"

Hey everyone,
Just wanted to catch you up on the last 24 hours. Yesterday (Friday) at 8:30 am, Mattea's doctor sent us over to do blood work and monitor the baby. 5 hours later, he came back with some news: He called the doctors at UAB for some advice and they told him that given Mattea's blood pressure situation, the baby needs to be delivered very soon. So with that information, Dr. Blake told us that we are going to admit Mattea, hook up an IV and start forcing contractions to see how the baby responds. He then said, "we'll look to deliver sometime in the next 48 to 72 hours."

So, Monday, September 8th, 2008 is the probable due date for Addison Kay!!!

I just got home from staying the night at the hospital with Mattea. She slept a good majority of the night and the baby slept as well. Even Daddy got some good rest suprisingly. It must be all the prayers working. Mattea has actually started laughing again and I believe she has a piece of mind now that we have a date.

Keep us in your prayers though as the situation is still up in the air. If the baby does not respond well or if they see something wrong before Monday, they will have to transport Mattea to UAB immediately. If the baby comes on Monday and they need to get her into critical care, they will take the baby to UAB. Best case scenario, mattea is fine, the baby is fine and all get to stay in Fort Payne.

Know that Mattea and I are happy either way. I know a lot of you reading have gone through this experience and you're saying "oooh I hope everything is ok." I want you all to know 2 things:

1) I appreciate your prayers more than anything.
2) Since this is my first experience with childbirth, i'll pretty much assume that whatever happens is the normal way to do things. I've really been calm and soothing this weekend(something i haven't been in the last 2 week). that in itself is an answer to prayer.

Thank you all and I will try to update daily from here on out.

Love to all,
Brian

Addison's Room

I know I have been promising to post the pictures of her room for a while now. Sorry it has taken so long. Well, here goes...

This is the awning that my dad, who Addison will call Papa Chris, built for her room. The material covering the awning matches the crib sheet.

Here is her crib with her name above it that my mom, who Addison will call "Kim the Great" like Nick Jr.'s Little Bill calls his grandmother "Alice the Great," made.

This table will be next to the glider in her room. The lamp, with slight modifications, was my great grandmothers. The other things on the table were gifts from family and friends.
The shelf was found in an antique shop and was painted by a close family friend for Addison. She also added to it so we could store some of her books on the shelf as well.

This changing table was a gift from Addison's paternal grandparents, who still haven't decided what they want her to call them, and other family and friends. To avoid leaving someone out, I will not mention any one's name.
We still have a few things we want to do/get for her room but it is primarily finished. Thank you to everyone who helped us! Now all we need is our baby girl here.