Ooops

We were caught completely off guard when someone asked us late Christmas eve what we were giving Little Bug for Christmas. We stared back with blank faces, we didn't get her anything! In fact we didn't even give it a thought! It's an even funnier thing that everybody else remembered to give her a present. As you can see, she can hardly contain her excitement about this present from Grandma and Papa D! And we're just excited cause she was the best Christmas present ever!

You are missed!

Thanks for coming Grandma and Papa D! We sure do miss having someone to hold Little Bug all afternoon long!

Christmas pictures

"Turn your head on more of a slant.
   Now, make a fist...
   and slowly ease it up underneath your chin.
-This is looking really good.
-You can say that again."

How exciting, our first family photo shoot! And "wow, that felt really relaxed." Andrew had this 'insert adjective here' idea to take a family picture in the most Christmassy sweaters we could find. His shirt actually lights up and mine even had a snowflake hanging from the zipper. Stay tuned in case this becomes a new family tradition. And don't worry, Little Bug is not being smashed between our two arms!

2-3 feet tall at Lucky's

Last week, we bundled ourselves up to brave off the ridiculously moderate temperatures and made a trek to the Christmas tree farm. After an exhaustive search, we discovered a Christmas tree jewel. Miraculous! Andrew chopped the beast down and manhandled it into the car. It may have been tedious work, but in the end it sure was worth it. In other words, we went to Lucky's and snatched up the last tree left.

It's a hard knock life

Since the arrival of Little Bug, we have learned mounds of new things. For example, we have made two precious discoveries that are fail proof in calming Little Bug; Foot massages and the creme de la creme the blow dryer. The simple sound of the blow dryer being turned on will hush the smallest to loudest cries in an instant. What three week old can resist such toasty warm accommodations? And here's the video that proves it!

Not a good idea

I know I shouldn't have, but as I was staring at my closet I couldn't help myself. I tried on some of my pre-pregnancy cloths. It didn't go well. However, I did feel a little better when I looked down and saw this;

Here's a Little Bug update. She had her first doctor's appointment a few days ago and is already back to her birth weight! Little oinker! She's waking up a bit more and it's fun to see her big eyes staring back at you. . . they are starting to look brown. She also lets us sleep a couple four hour blocks a night and we're not complaing about that! All in all, she's a keeper and treating us pretty well.

"I love that she came with an instruction manual"

I noticed from our last entry that Andrew forgot some crucial details. For those interested, here is a more detailed account of how our little bug arrived.

After a disappointing BYU loss to Utah, Andrew and I decided to console ourselves with some ice cream and a movie. After the movie, I hopped up from the couch and felt a little gush of fluid. I thought "that was odd" but decided to ignore it. While I was getting ready for bed more fluid kept gushing out. I was starting to worry about the problem but the reality of the situation never really clicked. In fact, it was Andrew who came up with the idea...Maybe your water broke? ... Of course I quickly shot down that idea. I was probably in denial that the time had now come and I was going to have to push her out. It didn't take long before I had to accept the mounting evidence that in fact my water had broken.

The doctor advised us to go to the hospital where they confirmed that my water had broken, that I was having mild contractions, and that the baby was doing well. We had the option to check into the hospital or go home and come back in the morning. It was about 2 AM at this time. We decided to head home and, needless to say, it was a long night. The contractions weren't strong enough to cause real pain, but they were uncomfortable enough to keep me awake. By 8 AM, I was having contractions every 4 minutes for about 40 seconds and the pain was increasing. It was time! By 9 we were all checked in at the hospital.

Unfortunately, the adrenaline from the drive to the hospital disrupted the regularity of my contractions. At this point the doctor told us that women whose water has broken often have long, slowly progressing labors. Since my contractions were no longer regular and I hadn't slept well the night before, she advised speeding up the process with some pitocin. I agreed, but in hindsight this was a bad idea. My contractions were already increasing on their own and I headed into active labor. The pitosin just put my contractions right on top of each other and seemed to increase the pain. By 2:30 PM I was exhausted, only dilated to a three, and getting no rest between contractions. At this point, I went for the epidural. It felt like a dream and my only regret is that I didn't go for it earlier! So, for the first time since 2:30AM I was able to relax, sleep, and most importantly like Andrew again:)

By 7:30 PM I was fully dilated and feeling the pressure to push! I was all excited, thinking that we would finally get to meet her in just a few minutes. Three very tiring hours later I was still pushing and we were no closer to meeting our little one. Not only was she facing upwards with her head bearing down on my lower back/tailbone area, but her head was also at an odd angle. At this point, the doctor gave me a choice. She could try to suction her out, with %50 chance of success with failure leaded to a c-section, or we could just go straight for a c-section. It wasn't more than a split second before I decided to try the suction first. Now, I don't think I'd really mind having a c-section if I hadn't just gone through 24 hours of labor. In my mind it's gotta be one or the other, not both. So, I was pretty grumpy that if the suction didn't work, I'd be wheeled into surgery for a c-section. The good news was that this fact provided me with excellent motivation to push her out! Thank heavens the suction worked and a few pushes later we finally met our little bug for the first time.

There you go, the most painful thing I've done! A few hours after delivery they took us down to the recovery room. On the desk was a half inch thick booklet on newborns and parenting. Andrew happily exclaimed, "I love that she came with an instruction manual!" Apparently we're all set and ready to go!

And here is Little Bug enjoying her Thanksgiving feast and post dinner slumber.

Presenting . . . our little bug!

She is finally here and, in our very objective opinions, she is very cute. Nora Marley was born on Nov 23rd at 10:39 PM. She was 7 lbs 1 oz and 20 inches long. Well, Enough with the words already here are the pictures.

Baby update

I really can't complain about my pregnancy. Granted the first trimester was not fun, but since then I've been feeling great. That was up until about a week and a half ago, when suddenly I realized moving around was...difficult. Walking, sleeping, sitting, and standing up, all of it, uncomfortable. I decided that it was time for our little one to come out. As of late, I've been trying to talk her into it, but she has yet to be convinced.

We did receive a little good news from what will hopefully be my last prenatal doctors appointment, but I'm trying not to jinx myself by saying that. At the moment I have dilated to 1 cm! I know, it doesn't sound like much but I'm 1/10 the way there and that's something. Granted it's the easiest 1/10, but I'll take it. The really interesting part was while the doctor was checking me, she actually poked the baby's head; hopefully it was more like a gentle touch. She said it was in a great position. Of course Andrew wanted to know if that meant she was coming in the next few days, but basically all it tells us is she's on her way. I guess we already knew that, but it's still fun to hear progress is being made.

Since my first pregnancy is coming to a close, I have been recalling all my little pregnancy nuances that I never knew would be coming my way. I feel they should be recorded and since this blog is as good a place as any, here it goes.
My favorite quirks and lessons learned:
1) I had no idea cravings would suddenly feel like needs. I no longer simply craved things, I needed them.
2) I never really knew how good soda was. Before, I would walk down the soda isle at the grocery store, passing by all the six, twelve, and eighteen packs and wonder, who bought this junk. Suddenly I found myself pregnant and smacking my lips at just the thought of walking down the soda isle. If it were up to me, I would have had the fridge stocked my entire pregnancy. Luckily (or maybe unfortunately), Andrew stepped in on that one and squashed all my soda dreams. I have to admit, I was still able to sneak a few six packs past him.
3) I had no idea someone could work up a sweet going down a flight of stairs.
4) Who knew that flip flops could become too small.
5) And that brings me to apples. I didn’t know anyone could become an apple addict. I had to stop myself from devouring apple after apple. One time after a trip to the grocery store, Andrew saw me putting away multiple bags and different varieties of apples. I watched as his eyes got bigger and I think he was slightly confused as to why we had so many apples.

So there you have it. I wonder what the second time around will bring? But until then, I think I'll focus on coxing our first little one out because, I'll be honest, it's time.

Celebration...nope, no baby yet

Our anniversary was election day Tuesday and since I was in class until 10pm that evening (Andrew was glued to the computer watching election updates), we decided we would celebrate later. It took us a while, but we finally celebrated this past Friday by going on the night tour of Alcatraz. I haven't been to Alcatraz since I was six and Andrew hadn't been at all. Although these two pics suggest it was mid-day, we spent most of our time wondering around the island in the dark. Much more creepy at night. At least it would have been if not for the hundreds of other people wandering around too. The dim lighting added to the ambiance, but for an even better night tour experience, I think they should add muted sound effects and muffled groans from hidden speakers in darkened cells. Oh, and then they need prison actors escaping from cells, terrorizing unsuspecting tourists with chain saws. . . Well . . . maybe not, but Alcatraz would make a great spook alley. In any case, we enjoyed a very warm and pleasant night on the Rock and of course it was great spend it with each other.