berkley 1 from brett talley on Vimeo.

well...i've been a dad for 6 weeks and one day...and of the many things i've learned, being bad at blog updates is one of them: sorry.

well, first and foremost...we've got a new online album up at http://www.koffeephoto.com/album/-aHYegMOg-eXcz21XtE310q7/

things are going well.  she's sleeping pretty good at night...sometimes up to 5 or 6 hours at a time.  during the day is another story though...she'll hardly sleep longer than 10 minutes without waking up fussy.  She's probably got a good one hour of non-fussy awake time during the day.  while that's not quite enough (for us at least), that time makes everything well worth it.  she's starting to smile and the other night, she started 'talking' for the first time.  just making the cutest noises in what we think is going to be a cute little raspy voice.  it's awesome.

she's healthy...the ear infection is all gone, but now she's got a gnarly case of the baby acne.  it's supposed to go away after a couple weeks, but i'm sure you'll notice it on some of the pictures.

So...she's amazing.  Thanks for all your prayers and support.  we'll try to update more:)

Sorry! We've been slackers on the blog but we have been a little busy trying to take care of our little missy poo. So heres a update on whats happened since you last heard from us...Berkley is now 3 weeks and 3 days old. WOW! I cant believe it! Its going by so fast already but we are LOVING every second with her :) She is the greatest thing ever, even when we're up 3 times a night for an hour and a half. She actually seems to love her sleep but hasnt really been feeling great. She's been really stuffy and goopy eyes and she was just having a hard time breathing at night so we took her to the doctor and ended up hearing that she had an ear infection :( Very upsetting!  So she is on antibiotics and seems to be feeling a little better. At the same visit she had gained her birth weight back...YAY!! We've been waiting for that. She weighed 8 pounds 2 ounces. So from that I'm sure you can gather that she is eating a lot better. We aren't really giving her formula anymore. So thats good even though it was convenient. It has been so nice to have Brett around a few extra days a week. He's working from home wednesday, monday is his normal day off and taking a vacation day fridays for a few weeks. Very nice! So needless to say we are loving life right now :) Love you all and thank you for staying updated with us. We'll try to keep you posted more regularly

well...it's hard to believe it's already been a week (almost)!  The first week has gone well.  Sure, the whole not sleeping thing isnt awesome...but i'm pretty sure it's worth it (yeah...i'm sure).  so far, after one week, she's doing really well.  after pooping about 10 times in her first 36 hours on this earth, she hadn't pooped since.  we were getting a bit worried, but then she filled a couple diapers with a pudding like poopy substance.  i get pretty pumped anytime talk turns to poop, but this might have been the most excited i got to see some doody.

our first dr appt was tuesday...berks had dropped a full pound from her birth weight...a little more than the dr was happy with.  but, she hadnt been eating too well until about 24 hours before that dr appt.  we went again today (10.1) and she had gained at least an ounce...which was good.  she (the doc) is having us use an ounce or 2 of formula to help gain some weight, but probably won't have to for very long.

so...despite a little constipation, a stuffy nose, weight loss and some googley eyes at times...she's doing great!

well, the other photo album we started was on flickr, but we hit that limit pretty quickly.  so, i found a new online photo album that has more size...so, check out photos of berkley at

http://www.koffeephoto.com/user/xalchERth0j8y3TwTc0_IrGZ/

berkley's photo album

We had our last night in the hospital. It was nice to have the nurses there to give us a break through the night but we're so glad to be home and have had so much help already! Our morning was good at the hospital. Both of us checked out healthy and good to go. We got home and Nonny Pam, Momaw Cindy, Nana Pat, Aunt Caitlin, cousin Millie and Modesty (a friend from Kokomo) were here, they had decorated the house and made lunch for us. Everything looks so cute :) It was great to see our Hadley again too :) She hasn't really reacted so much to Berkley, just very excited to have us back home! She has looked around and seemed a little confused when Berkley is crying but that's about it. We had a visit from Aunt Lisa, Aunt Jenny and cousins Ruby and Phin and Melissa McCuen. Then papaw Ranj and his wife Andrea brought us dinner and our other dresser and hung out for a little it. Now we are just hanging out with our baby girl...just the 3 of us :) Doesn't get any better!! LOVE LOVE LOVE HER!!!! Thank you all again so much for your love and support to us. We can't thank you all enough.

well...we're home.  we got home around 1:30 today (9.27).  we're exhausted, but so happy to be here:)

here is our online photo album as promised.  berkey's photo album

as i'm writing this, berkley is now 35 hours and 48 minutes old.  we are officially parents.  Court began having slight contractions that felt "different" thursday afternoon (9.24).  I headed home from work about 4 and she was pretty convinced this was the real deal.  So...we got prepared.  as we were getting ready, at about 7:30, the contractions officially became "labor pains" as each one started becoming painful, not just different.  Finally around 8:50, Dr Jarrett gave us the okay to head on in to the hospital (st vincent womens's).

We finally got to the hospital around 10pm and got the initial check up.  When the nurse asked court to rate her pain "on a level from 1-10...10 being the worst pain she can image" she responded, "well....5.  it hurts, but if my arm were cut off, i think i'd be in more pain."  So...obviously at this point she was still thinking rationally.

our next stop was room 208 at 10:35 and that's where berkley would end up being born almost exactly 8 hours later. 

those 8 hours were full of some fun, half working epidurals, laughs, homeless men sleeping in the lobby, rough labor pains and anticipation.

before we knew it, it was 6:01 and Dr J gave us the okay to push.  a mere 31 minutes later, out came the beautiful, gorgeous, gooey and loved berkley grace talley (though at that point, she was just known as baby...court and i both thought berkley right when we saw her, but didnt decide for sure until later.)

by 9, we were up in our post-birth room (348) and getting ready for the next step of life.  Thanks to Mom and Dad Talley...GiGi and Pap Cole...Aunt Cait...Nonny Cline and Colby Rose for spending the whole night with us.

Since then, we've had a lot of loving family and friends stop and give us tons love support (even more love and support from family and friends via facebook).  it's been a blur and we've been doing our best to rest when we can (i know, i know).  we will head home tomorrow morning and begin to fully transition our lives into being mom and dad.

thanks again to everyone for all of your love, prayer and support.  words cannot begin to describe what we are feeling (besides the exhaustion, i could describe that)...but that baby, dad, mom stuff...we can't.  all we know is that we are so extremely blessed to even have the family that we have, let alone be able to bring our own little baby into this world. 

a friend, ryan dowd (of boiledsports.com:), said it VERY well when he wrote us,

"It's great marrying someone you love and really like...but it's even better changing the trajectory of the future with that person.

You guys have done a great thing today- you've made the world brighter. There's so much to worry about in this often-bleak world, but Berkley is a great reminder how much our Savior cares for us. You guys were made for this job."

We love you all (but we love our little girl more:)

brett and court

(ps.  i'm sure we'll start up a web album too, but not sure when or where...we'll be sure to let you know)