Crazy Hair

These are post-bath pictures.
To date, she hates baths.
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What's Goin' On?

Hey...we thought you might like some new stuff?
She's pretty cute huh?

Here is shot I took this morning, with a bit of fiddling in my editing software.
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for comparison...

In case anyone was wondering, here's what I looked like when I was born. Perhaps a bit of resemblance...

Whoa!?!

"Seriously guys, what is going on?"

more pics...

Really, do baby pictures ever get old? I was retrieving a few pics from my camera and found a bunch that our doula, Becky, took right after Ainsley was born. I didn't even know that she was taking them -- but I'm really glad that she did! Hope you enjoy a few more!

baby papsan chair

A friend from work gave us this little seat for Ainsley. We tried it out today, and she was enjoying it until she realized that she wasn't being snuggled. That was the end of that. I think it will come in quite handy when Mama needs a shower, though. :)

We also saw the doctor today and he was quite impressed with Ainsley's weight gain. When we left the hospital a week ago, she weighed 6 lbs 13 ozs. Friday she was down to 6 lbs 8.5ozs. The doctor and lactation consultant were both mildly concerned about the loss, so we scheduled more appointments for follow up this week. It seems that my milk just needed a few days to catch up with Ainsley's appetite. On Tuesday she was up to 7 lbs 3.5 ozs and today she surpassed her birth weight (which babies are expected to be back to by 2 weeks) at 7 lbs 8.5 ozs! Everyone is so impressed with her. This is really great news for all of us since we were a little worried.

That's all for now...

Paternal Observation #2: Crazy Love

Do you remember when you were dating (sorry to those of you who are not dating...)? I remember when I was dating Sarah (and before when we were really dating, but not calling it that), and how nuts we were for each other. We would talk on the phone, email, and spend as much time together as possible. Do you remember how late you were willing to stay out with that person, chatting, making out (I know that's what you were thinking) etc etc. You were crazy in love. Now, when its time to go to bed (at like 10pm) you just go to bed. And the idea of going out at 10pm, well, thats right out.
Well, the other night, around 3:30am, it dawned on me, that this was precisely how I felt about the Ains. She was crashed out on my chest, all bundled up, and would make these cute little noises, and faces, and I couldn't help but think that we were spending some real quality time together. Even though I was losing sleep, it was wonderful to be there and witness it. Now, I like sleep, so please don't read this as my acceptance of its departure. I do think that the cause, however, is so worth it.
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This last one is called "Daddy's little princess," but not because she is wearing a cute onesie.

A spare moment...

It's hard to believe that our little girl has been on the outside for 10 days. The time has flown by so quickly (and not just because we are getting less sleep). I am amazed at how fascinating a sleeping baby can be. She is a true wonder and miracle. To follow up on my last post, it's obvious that we can add our names to the "Pumpkin patch babies" list. Whether or not the pumpkin tortellini actually helped bring on Ainsley's arrival or not, I think that it makes a pretty good story. Since then we've been getting to know each other, spending lots of time with Grandma and Grandpa, and learning all the things that babies need to know (how to eat, sleep, poop, etc). We've had our first outings to the doctor and have done really well with being in the carseat. All in all, the last ten days have been full of discovery and falling more and more in love with our daughter.

And as all of you parents out there can relate to, my spare moment is up and my daughter is calling. :)

Paternal Observation #1: Pee and Poop

There comes a time when, as adults, one finds the discussion of Pee and Poop to be not only common place, but absolutely essential. Babies...
Think about it: all this little person does, for the first days (years?), is pee, poop, eat, and sleep. Some of the time she is awake and content, some of the time she is awake and gassy, some of the time she is asleep and content...you get the idea. All this mixed with more or less sleep, and more or less diapers.
It is fascinating how much we care about these basics of human functionality: is she going, eating, sleeping enough? It's also rather comical to note the excitement precipitated by a massive BM. I actually stopped and thought...am I really this enthusiastic (think "push it out, push it out, waaaaaay out!!!") about the fact that my daughter filled her britches?...what a strange development.
And to be frank, I think that its endearing to get peed on. Think about it: she wants to share the warm love that she has in her heart with mommy and daddy, and the only way she can get that out to us is...well, you get the idea.

Oh, and more pictures...
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More of the Ains

Ok - more pictures. Can you guess who likes to hold her?
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No Really...That's not her name!

Ainsley Elaine was born 3.31.08 at 8:03pm at 7lb 6oz and at 20.5 inches. She and mom are great - both did wonderfully. Dad also worked really hard and is pretty wiped (for those of you thinking...I wonder what he did, go do some searching for the Bradley philosophy of birthing, AKA husband coached child birthing), but is in pretty good shape. Actually, I have been having fun with the camera. So much so - that I have some pictures to post.
Enjoy.

Labor Inducing Pasta?

Within less than 24 hours (Wednesday to Thursday), three people suggested that I try the labor inducing pumpkin tortellini at a local restaurant. Seriously. My midwife was included among the advice givers. So since Joshua isn't working tonight, we're going to go on a dinner date and we'll see if this famous dish really works. I also found an article written up about it. I've included that below because I think it's pretty funny that we "overdue" pregnant women are willing to try just about anything to get our little ones to make their debut. Mine is currently still finding enough room to practice her karate kicks to the right side of my belly. How she still has space in there is beyond me.

Joshua and I are impatiently waiting on her arrival and wondering if she will ever come. We have the hospital bags packed and in the car. The nursery is finished. The apartment is essentially clean. All of the baby clothes are washed and organized. The car seat is installed properly (we had it checked). So now all we're doing is waiting...and waiting...and waiting. I'm not desperate yet, but I'm getting close. I think that it's less because I'm just done with the being pregnant thing because I still am loving the feeling of all her movements. Rather there are more practical reasons for my impatience... 1) our good friend Johanna is going to be there for the birth, unless baby comes after April 2nd because then Johanna will be in Ohio 2) I'm getting tired of people seeing me at work and saying things like "You're still here?!?" or "No baby yet?!?" Ugh. 3) I'd like my dad to be able to come out to meet his granddaughter and the longer she waits the more likely that we'll have a conflict with his upcoming business trip 4) etc, etc, etc. All of this to say, we're darn ready for her.

So without further griping or ado...here is the article I mentioned.

From The Salem News Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.

Published: 04/12/2007 Oh, baby: Is it the pumpkin tortellini? By Paul Leighton Staff writer BEVERLY - As co-owner of Super Sub, Paul Guanci usually touts the benefits of his cheesesteaks. But when it comes to the miracle of birth, even he defers to the dish served down the street at Chianti's Tuscan Restaurant. "If your wife is pregnant and you want her to give birth," Guanci said, reciting what has become a local legend among expectant parents, "you go to Chianti's for the pumpkin tortellini." Guanci's wife, Kristin, did just that one night two years ago. Nineteen hours later, son Noah was born. Same story for Kim Pelletier. A day after her due date last December, she dug into the pumpkin tortellini at Chianti's. Forty hours later, out came daughter Hannah. Forty hours might seem like a long time, but not long enough to discourage Pelletier from making the tortellini connection. "It still did the trick," she said. It's not just the Guancis and the Pelletiers. Since the restaurant opened on Cabot Street 14 years ago, Chianti's owner, Richard Marino, estimates 40 to 50 women have credited the pumpkin tortellini for bringing on a delivery. "We call their babies the pumpkin patch kids," Marino said. Marino isn't sure how the legend got started. He thinks an overdue pregnant woman was advised by someone at Beverly Hospital years ago that pumpkin tortellini might do the trick. The woman ate at Chianti's, had the baby the next day, then called the restaurant with her theory. The staff at Chianti's took it from there. Whenever an obviously pregnant woman walked through the door, they had the pumpkin tortellini on the table before she had settled in her seat. "I didn't even order," said Pelletier, a Beverly resident. "The waitress sat us down and said, 'I bet I know what you should order.'" Waitress Chrissy Beale said word often spreads among women at baby showers. All of a sudden, she said, there will be a table full of pregnant friends wolfing down the pumpkin tortellini. At one point, Beale said, there were three pregnant women at separate tables eating the tortellini when they noticed a fourth pregnant woman who was unaware of the dish's hidden power. All three walked over to her table to let her in on the secret. "They all cross their fingers and say, 'I hope it works. I'm sick of this,'" Beale said. "They say, 'Anything will work at this point.'" The magic could be in the recipe. Chianti's pumpkin tortellini consists of a pumpkin puree inside the tortellini, served in a Gorgonzola cheese cream sauce with pear and caramelized walnuts. "Maybe because it's such a rich dish and it's so filling," Beale said. Marino doesn't advertise the pumpkin/pregnancy connection, and he didn't pitch the story to this newspaper. But he sounds like he has the makings of a pretty good slogan. "When people ask if we deliver at Chianti's," he said, "I guess we do."

no baby yet...

...but we'll keep you posted. In the meantime, keep the three of us in your prayers--that Baby would come soon and that there be no complications in labor and delivery. We hope to update you soon with the good news of the arrival of our precious baby girl!

Bigger and bigger...

...the latest belly shots (taken at 38 weeks and 4 days). It's funny how used to your own image you get (ie: looking in the mirror). It wasn't until Joshua took these that I realized just how darn big my belly is. Wow. But I guess since the little one could come any day, it makes sense that we are both feeling a little uncomfortable.

Tuesday adventures

On Mondays and Tuesdays I carpool to work with James, who works in our web department at CBD. It works out well because then Joshua can actually go and run errands if need be, and go to class without having to be stuck at school all days long. So James and I were coming home on Tuesday and we had the joy of being rear-ended at a stop sign. Lame. Thankfully, there was damage to his car (though the gal who rear-ended us munched up her hood pretty good) and there were no injuries. In spite of the fact that I felt fine and baby was moving around like usual, I thought it best to call the midwives to see if they wanted to check us out or anything. It ended up being good that I called because the doctor on call (there's always a midwife and doc on call from our practice) told me to come in for fetal monitoring. Apparently that's standard after an accident. Joshua and I thankfully didn't have too much planned that evening. So we grabbed some reading material and headed on over to the hospital. It was good practice for the big day, actually. Our nurse, Danielle, was great and she took good care of us the whole time. And I say "whole time" because they kept me for a full four hours for monitoring. Good times. I can't complain too much about hearing our little one's heartbeat for that long since it's one of my favorite sounds...but still four hours is a long time. I had a few contractions while we were there, which was pretty cool because I could feel them (obviously) and see them charted on the print out at the same time. The good news is twofold--not only is our baby doing great with no harm (that we can tell) from the accident, but we also now know that Joshua can sleep perfectly well on the hard tile hospital floor. :) It was a long night, but one that ended well.

Since then, no other major adventures--thankfully. I hope to get one more picture posted while the little one's still on the inside. Not too long now and we'll be posting pictures of her precious little face! Hooray!

Finally....

As promised long ago, here is my favorite picture from our last ultrasound. You can see Baby's face so well...and she's darn cute, if I do say so myself. :) She's still super wiggly and Joshua and I are getting more and more excited to meet her. Each day that goes by I find myself wishing that she would hurry up and come. And then I remember that we still have a few things to get done first--so she can wait a few more weeks!

Courtesy of one of my fellow mommies at Christ Church, I went to Paula's Day Spa today and had a fabulous spa manicure. Really, manicures are one of my favorite indulgences. They are so relaxing and make me feel very feminine. So today I pampered myself a bit--and man was it awesome! The gal who did my nails did a great job and I just about starting drooling during the hand massage. Oh, if only I could have this done more often!

Today was also my baby shower! Meredith and Johanna put together a very elegant and fabulous shower, and I was so happy to be surrounded by women I love and respect. It's always hard to get a chance to really sit down and talk with everyone at showers/parties, but I was so thankful to have them all there to celebrate the upcoming birth of our daughter.

All in all, it has been a very good day. Now I just want to curl up with some ice cream and watch a movie...hmm...perhaps I'll do just that! :)

Cloth diapers

We have decided that we want to use cloth diapers for baby. There are a multitude of reasons for this, but mainly we feel like it's the best use of our resources (ends up being cheaper for a year of cloth diapers washed at home than a year of disposables) and is the most responsible (cuts down on waste). The initial decision was fairly easy, however deciding which diapers to go with has been quite the ordeal. I'm still not positive which diapers we are going to end up using, though I think we've narrowed it down significantly. Whew. I've added some all-in-ones to our Amazon.com registry. These will be good for traveling (short or long distances). The others that we're trying to decide between are Imse Vimse contour diapers or MotherEase one-size diapers. Both would need diaper wraps/covers as well, but those don't have to be washed every time a diaper is changed like the all-in-ones do. Our final consideration is cost. We have a good chunk of funds stored away for cloth diapers, but still fall short of what we need to have enough to go cloth-only. I'm not really sure what the point of my rambling is...except that your prayers for my sanity while trying to decide what diapers to go with would be greatly appreciated. Also, if you feel so inclined to donate to our cloth diaper fund, Baby's bum would be appreciative. :)

Till next time...

Bottom's Up!!!

No, I'm not talking about a delicious pint of beer...I'm talking about Baby!!! She decided that it was time to quit fooling around and get into ready-to-be-born position. So we now have ruled out the last reason (that we know of) for a scheduled C-section. Can I get a witness!??! Seriously, though, we are relieved and very thankful that she is no longer breech. This means that all of the hard work we put into childbirth class can actually be put to good use. It also means that she can come when she wants to and not have a planned birthday. I like that.

We are busy washing tiny clothes and bit by bit getting the nursery ready. The crib is put together (though it still needs a mattress), the carseat is out and ready to install, and I've even thought more than fleetingly about packing a go-to-the-hospital bag. It's hard to believe, but her due date is only five weeks away! That seems like so little time to get everything done! And yet, we are both impatient to meet this wiggly, spirited, and precious little girl of ours. I can't even begin to imagine what it will be like to look in her tiny face for the first time and know that no matter how much I love her now it will only multiply a million times over in the years to come.

Joshua is keeping himself more than busy by trying to get schoolwork done in the midst of all of his photography stuff (and all of the baby related chores I keep asking him to do). But he's a trooper. He'll get everything done by the time it has to be done--even if it's just under the wire.

Cheers, for now!

Bumper Stickers

So today, as I am sometimes want to do, I thought up one of my inappropriate bumper stickers that I could never put on a car, but I would really like to.

I saw a student a fellow student driving on campus, which prompted me to come up with this:

Do you think its too much?
Cheers