The 'Oooh!' face

Thank you everybody!

(By Erik)

Here's a look at the design of a thank you card from Maggie's shower. I threw it together using InDesign, the same program we use to lay out The Christian Chronicle. Jeanie and her mom put them on the hostess gifts.

Maggie got quite a little haul at her baby shower, by the way. We've been blessed by so many members of our church family. In addition to the gifts, members of our class have been bringing by meals every other day. It's been great. (We've done this for couples in our class before. It's really nice to be on the receiving end!)

It's been so great to read all the encouraging e-mails and blog posts as well. As you might expect, we've had a lot of ups and downs these past two weeks as we've stumbled and bumbled our way into parenthood. Even though one of us is a pediatrician, it's a whole new experience raising your own kid! I already feel like I've learned a lot about the unconditional nature of God's love for us.

We continue to covet your prayers.

Sunday best

Maggie made her debut at church today, wearing an outfit that her mother wore when she was a baby. Today was Maggie's shower, too.

Hopefully this is no reflection on our feelings toward daddy's alma mater

(By Erik)

Actually, this is karma in action. Yesterday I said, "Seems like she hasn't spit up much since she was born."

While we're on the subject of UGA, in all the excitement of Maggie's arrival I didn't get a chance to brag/gloat about the Bulldogs' final standing of No. 2 in the AP poll. Nor did I get to brag about my No. 2 finish in the College Bowl Pick 'Em game that Bobby set up back in November.

I did a pretty lousy job picking the winners up until the end of the year, but I finished strong because I picked the winners of all five BCS bowls. (Yes, sports fans, that means I picked West Virginia over our beloved Sooners. I had to go with history on that one — plus I remember what the Mountaineers did to Georgia in the Sugar Bowl two years ago. Not a pleasant memory.)

ESPN also picked Georgia as the preseason No. 1 for 2008. That's a mixed blessing — an accolade on par with the "Best New Artist" Grammy. It means you'll never be heard from again. Re: Hootie and the Blowfish) But I'm confident my Bulldogs will rise to the challenge — or at least make it an interesting college football season.

Sometimes the couch works better than the cradle

More visitors, bath time, nap time ... and purple mouth

(By Erik)

OK, that last one is misleading because I don't have any photos of Maggie's newly-purple mouth. We went to the pediatrician today and he recommended a treatment to get rid of Maggie's thrush (yeast inside her mouth). Unfortunately, the treatment involves brushing her tongue and the inside of her cheeks with a violet-colored dye. We're hoping it will dissipate before her baby shower this coming Sunday.

I've been unable to get any photos of little miss purple mouth yet, but will post them if/when I do.

Meanwhile, here's a few new photos from the past few days.

Jeanie's friends from Wichita Falls came up for a visit. Here are their two girls (Sidney and Mary) admiring Maggie.



The Rosses stopped by for a visit and (shortly after this photo was taken) Tamie was able to get Maggie to stop crying — by taking her to look out one of our windows. Thank you veteran mother of three! We're in awe!

Here's Maggie at bathtime. She's not a big fan, but she seems enamored with the Pooh and Tigger cup dispenser — especially Tigger. Distracting baby girls at bath time is what Tiggers do best, it seems.

Keeping Maggie warm so she can get some rest has been a challenge with outside temperatures dropping into the low teens recently. Looks like I make a pretty good heating pad.

Love me some bouncy seat!

Just in case you feel that we haven't posted enough photos of Maggie, here's our little girl with her eyes wide open in her new, jungle-themed bouncy seat.

Thanks to Jeanie's cousin, Tyson, and his wife, Dana, for the wonderful gift.

Maggie loves her bouncy seat. It calms her down when she's a little bit fussy. (If she's a lot fussy, alas, even the bouncy seat is powerless to make an impact.)

Maggie-palooza

We're trying to post a slideshow from Photobucket showcasing most of Maggie's visitors this week. On our Mac it looks a little bit off-center, but it works. Please let us know if you can see it or not.

Still more Maggie photos

(By Erik)

Right after Maggie was born, she got her first bath. Emily, one of the RNs at Mercy, did the honors.

Emily said Maggie had the most junk in her hair of any baby she'd washed — a Mercy milestone! It turned out to be a true "lather, rinse, repeat" experience.



Here are a few more photos from the past couple of days.

Here's Maggie all ready for bed (well, not really. This night turned out to be a trial by fire. She refused to sleep. I think Jeanie and I slept about 15 minutes combined.)

My mom grabbed my camera and took this photo of me and Maggie.

Here's Maggie getting ready to come home. This is her special "going home outfit."

Drowning in a sea of pink as we get ready for the car

At home with mommy.

Because you demanded it — more Maggie photos

Having some technical issues. More coming, I promise! -- ET

Stay at Mercy Hospital, get a free pink hat (patient must provide own baby girl).

Bailey stopped by before his classes at OC.

Joyce stopped by with Dr. Beth Walker after lunch.

Here's Maggie with grandpa and grandma Tryggestad

Praise the Lord! She looks like her mother!

Margaret Jean Tryggestad

Born 4:14 p.m. Jan. 16, 2008

6 pounds, 13 ounces

18 inches long

Mother and baby are doing fine.

Father is thrilled (but is kind of wondering, "Yeah, um, well ... now what do I do?")

Wednesday 10 a.m. update

(By Erik)

We're getting close! Everything looks good so far — just a couple of minor hiccups along the way.

The neatest thing that's happened thus far is getting to see part of our Memorial Road family. Just as soon as we walked into the maternity ward, we caught the Baileys on their way out. They were visiting Stephanie Anderson, who just had her baby yesterday. She was due next week. It's a girl, by the way.

The hospital has wi-fi! Whoo-hoo!

(By Erik)

We checked in at 8 p.m. today. Jeanie's getting her medication to get everything going. The induction is scheduled for tomorrow. Everything looks good so far. Jeanie had several contractions today leading up to the big event, but nothing that was was frequent or regular.

I'll keep you posted. Thanks for your prayers!

(Almost) everything but the baby

(By Erik)

Here, at long last, are some photos of Maggie’s (nearly) completed room. Apologies for the yellow tint in some of these. I took them at night without using the flash. I did a little sharpening and color correction in PhotoShop, but I’m no expert.

That’s the room’s door on the right. I’ve had that sign since Jeanie’s graduation from medical school in 2005. She had a bunch of family coming in for the event, so they put these signs on about two rows of seats at the Civic Center. It was funny to me I’m the only one of the whole bunch who was born with the name “Tryggestad,” yet we all were the “Tryggestad family.” I kept one and put it on the door of what then was my office. Kinda’ funny how the sign turned out to be prophetic.

You can see our lady bug-themed crib sheet set here, plus a few of the photos that you, dear readers, voted onto the walls.


The changing table is loaded up with clothes that will go to the hospital with us.

Jeanie and I bought these colorful animals on two separate trips to Guatemala. (She started the collection in November 2006 and I added to it in April 2007.)

Maggie is one-fourth Norwegian, so my mom and dad got her this little reminder.

Baby’s first SLR camera (I got her this.)

And speaking of prophetic …

A coincidence (or maybe ‘D’oh! incidence’)?

(By Erik)

So I’m in The Christian Chronicle office this afternoon getting ahead on some work (since I’ll be missing most of this upcoming press week due to our impending arrival).

I pick up my Simpsons’ trivia calendar and peek over at the question for Jan. 16, our induction day.

Here’s the question:

According to Carl in ‘And Maggie Makes Three’ (Episode 2F1O), Homer should see a doctor for what reason?

A. A healthy man wouldn’t make that kind of smell
B. There’s a screw loose somewhere
C. He’s lost his appetite for donuts.

For me, it was one of those “Twilight Zone” moments. Lord willing, Maggie just may make three on Wednesday.

(By the way, the answer is A. And yes, I got it right.)

This week's food our baby is the size of: 39 weeks

(By Erik)

We're back to measuring general baby size instead of just length this week at Babycenter.com. This week our little girl is roughly the size of ...

a mini-watermelon!

Alas, this is the final week of comparing our firstborn to food. Jeanie is scheduled for induction if we reach the middle of next week, so we'll most likely not reach the coveted 40-week food — small pumpkin.

Thanks to everyone who's been praying for us during the past nine months. We feel very blessed to have reached this point.

I'll keep you posted on what happens next!

More photos for Maggie's room

(By Erik)

After two months of waiting, the coveted crib sheet set is in our possession and on the crib! We’ll be posting some pictures of the (mostly) finalized nursery soon.

Meanwhile, I just ordered the final, smaller photos that will go on Maggie’s walls alongside the 8 by 10s, which I put up a few days ago. We’re going to have four 5 by 7s and two 4 by 6s. Since these photos are smaller, I looked for shots with single subjects and less background detail.

Here are our final photos:

This is Moses “Big Mo” Akpanudo. I took this in Obong Ntak, Nigeria, just before we left for the Port Harcourt airport for the long journey home in January 2005. Moses is named after his grandfather, who oversees a Christian school on Obong Ntak.

Here’s another shot of a girl waiting at a clinic in rural Guatemala. I took this during my “ride along” day with Dr. Lisa Dunham of Health Talents International in April 2007.

I took this in Paramakatoi, Guyana, in June 2004, just after the photo of the younger girl looking at a pile of toys. This is an “after” photo. After the kids made their selection, I got a few of them to pose with their new toys.

This is the oldest photo of the group. I took it in a village near Catacamas, Honduras, in early 2003.

This little girl was one of many who followed us around in Sefwi-Debiso, Ghana, back in August 2007.


This isn’t the best photo, but it’s one of my favorites. This girl’s name is Lovia, and she also lives in the Sefwi-Debiso area. She was one of the smartest kids I met on the Ghana trip, and she’s absolutely determined to be a doctor someday. When I told her my wife was a doctor, her eyes lit up. She reminds me of Jeanie a little bit. So she gets a place on Maggie’s wall.