in love at 3 am

It's 3 am and my beautiful baby girl is happily eating away. As I look down at her, deliriously tired and sleep deprived, i realize just how lucky I am. I am in love... And if I turn my head a little further to the left, I see and hear with his wonderful snores, daddy who I love more and more every day and thank him for giving me the perfect little daughter.

Too good to be true...

Three weeks into parenting and we feel very lucky to have such a great baby. Keaton is a VERY laid back girl who is easily fitting into our lives as we have always known them. We take her pretty much everywhere with us right now because all she does is sleep. Keaton has been to the mall, walked to Whole Foods, out to dinner at Terrilli's, a picnic in the park, and Sunday morning breakfast at Cafe Brazil. We just had her Nana and Pop Pop in town for a week from Florida. Mom and dad even got to go out on a date and leave her at home with the grandparents. That may be our one and only date for a very long time. Mom got to experience pump and dump for the first time. Keaton is eating every 3-4 hours and loves to be held. We still haven't figured out the whole bath thing... major screaming when wet and naked! She is starting to make her first cooing noises and is making eye contact with bright pictures, lights and your face if it is really close. She is gaining about an ounce a day and has already outgrown some of her newborn clothes because she has really long legs and arms. We are still afraid to cut her fingernails or claws, so we keep them covered most of the time so she doesn't scratch her pretty little face. Her big brother Barley is very sweet to her... he gives her gentle kisses on the back of her head.

Welcome Keaton Marie!!!

On Tuesday, September 16th at 5:27 p.m. we welcomed a beautiful baby GIRL into the world. Keaton Marie was born screaming with a full head of hair. She weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces and was 20 inches long. As the doctors pulled and pushed her out of me, they let Nathan announce the sex. She was pulled out with her butt facing Nathan and he said... "What is it?" All the doctors said "It's a girl!" Yes, her little girl parts were a bit swallon leaving her looking like she could have been a boy from the back side. We stayed in "hotel" medical city for 5 days and mommy was well taken care of. In fact, I didn't want to leave! Once we got home, Keaton slept too much and wasn't too interested in eating. When we went to the doctor on Tuesday for her one week appointment she was down to 6 pounds 15 ounces and her jaundice levels were getting high. The doctors gave us 48 hours to beafen her up and we were able to put 3 ounces on her in 2 days. We head back to the doctor this week for our 2 week appointment where she should be back up to her birth weight. Keaton is a good sleeper (when sleeping on mommy - not in her bed) and right now we have to wake her up to eat. She loves to poop and pee while we are changing her diaper leaving us with a very big mess, lots of used wipes and multiple diapers getting dirty in a matter of minutes. When you put her on your stomach, she is able to crawl... yes crawl up your chest to the crevice in your neck where she can feel your pulse. She then falls sound asleep... Her Aunt Ashly and cousin Elijah just visited us for 4 days from Berkeley. Aunt Ashly was a HUGE help cooking us dinner, taking Keaton at night so we could sleep, and changing many diapers. Elijah just chilled with his super cute, bright eyed self and finally warmed up to Barley and Nathan just in time to head back home. We can't wait for them to come visit us again.

Almost there...

With under 2 weeks to go, I am officially READY! I survived my first week back at school and it felt really good to stay busy all day. My co-workers could not believe I was back at school and the parents were even more surprised when they met me. Their first question was "Who is your sub?" and their second was "When are you coming back?"
I have been going to the dr. once-twice a week for check ups. Everything is still going well and he said he would move my due date up to next week if I wanted (because my belly is HUGE), but I am going to "try" to hold out until the 16th. However, I have been doing a few natural things to speed up the process. Other than walking A LOT, I have been drinking raspberry leaf tea several times a day, bathing in sage, trying to eat spicy food, and getting pedicures to hit pressure points. We'll see if any of these speed things up.
Nathan and I finally took our child birth class at the hospital last Saturday after rescheduling it 3 times. We learned a lot of good stuff like infant CPR and choking, breastfeeding tips, signs of labor, etc. My favorite part was when they said that the mother shouldn't clean or do laundry for 6-8 weeks after giving birth. I am all for that tip!
Barley has been getting ready too. At 8 years old, we FINALLY had his boy parts cut off. Or atleast we thought they were going to be cut off, they actually just take them out and then the sack perks back up again so he still looks like a boy. We are very pleased with the outcome. And while he was under, he had his teeth cleaned, a mole removed from his eye, and his nails cut really short. So far we haven't seen any difference, he is still his crazy self that we love. We also think he hid his shock collar on us because we can not find it anywhere!
The pics above are photos we had taken today! 12 days and counting...

September 16th here we come...

Well, after a lot of doctors appointments this summer, Nathan and I finally decided to be conservative and to go with a scheduled c-section to keep mom in good health with her messed up back. We are happy with our decision (even though Nathan asked me if he could watch someone else giving birth vaginally in the next room at some point during our hospital stay) and we have picked Tuesday, September 16th at 5:00 p.m. (happy hour) for the date and time. The baby may decide to come before then as he has dropped very low in the last several weeks. He/she is still sticking straight out. He/she has also found my upper right rib which has become a constant kicking spot all day. You can now see actual feet and elbows coming out of my stomach which is really exciting to watch because you can tell that the baby is out of room in there. The baby gets the hiccups about 10 times a day and finally I asked my doctor what the deal was and he said that it was a good sign because he/she is trying to start breathing by themselves. So, I am now going to the doc every week for a check up and will be starting school next week 9 months pregnant!!!

Thank you family and friends

Nathan and I have such wonderful friends and family! We had such a wonderful baby shower and received so many much needed gifts for our new baby. The sprinkles cupcakes were just what the baby wanted too. Nathan is definitely overwhelmed at this point, but reality is starting to set in more each day. He can not believe all the accessories that come along with a baby. At 33 weeks, things are going great with the baby. The baby is growing more and more each day and the belly just keeps going out further...

Getting bigger every day!

At 30 weeks, it is hard to believe that my stomach can get any bigger. The baby moves 24/7 and now gets the hiccups alot. It looks like there is a party going on in my belly. It is amazing how nice people are to you when they can tell you are pregnant. My dry cleaners today asked if they could start bringing my dry cleaning out to the car so I wouldn't have to get out in the heat (which I thought was hysterical) and the bagger at Whole Foods tonight insisted on carrying my bag (only one) to my car. It is nice to finally have the summer off. Nathan started a new job today and loved it. Barley just spent a week at camp and came home today with a perfect report card. We celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary yesterday by flying to Spain at the last minute. Yes, Nathan thought it might be a good idea to run with the bulls in Pamplona before becoming a dad. My thoughts... I'm going to Spain and my doctor wrote me a note, I'm a happy camper! This pic is from Cadeques on the east coast of Spain. Things are going great here and we are looking forward to Kelli's family coming out in 2 weeks!