queen redux plus one

We had another Grandparents' Weekend. The original plan was to spend the day at the Wild Animal Park, but an unexpected growth spurt feeding schedule on Friday night called for a change in plans. Having been up every hour, I probably would've been the roarin' crankmeister louder than any of the animals at the park before we could reach Lorikeet Landing.

A short drive up to Kit Carson Park with a short walk on a trail led us to Queen Califia's Magical Circle. The last time we were here I was 24 weeks preggo. This trip gave us a chance to take an updated picture with the little one held in our arms instead.

Our day out ended with a late lunch at the Elephant Bar, one of grandpa's faves. Hmm, we stayed within the wild animal theme after all.

midnight sunshine

A few times last week, Le Bebe treated me to bouts of laughter as he dozed into baby dreamland. Makes you wonder what's going on in his young mind. Probably goes something like this, "Hey, remember that time Mr. Penguin was bobbing his head up and down? Then, he flapped his flippers. ha.ha. What a joker!" (No Batman puns intended.)

Yes, he's wearing a cape. He's my favorite little super hero.

two months old

Our house was abuzz this past month with holiday activities and many, many visitors who were anxious to meet the little one. Lucky boy! It was one of those time periods which seemed to span a long time yet flew by in a flash. During that time blip, Cole outgrew his newborn clothes, started cooing and flashing his sweet smile, and began to recognize high contrast objects. He's become good pals with Mr. Penguin. (Brian is convinced Cole's scared of his black-framed glasses...I think it's the loud, scary noises he makes when they're playing.) Cole is two months old today!

one month old

I've been told by so many people to enjoy these early days 'cause it all goes by so quickly. It's true! A few days ago, I changed him into his homecoming outfit and it was too small. (sniff. sniff.) Earlier this week, he shared with grandma his first little chuckle. I can't believe our little one turned one month old yesterday. There are times when it feels like we just arrived days home ago. Maybe because several days seem to mesh into one long day with our new round the clock schedule? Happy First Month, Le Bebe!

our first week home

The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, there's a light breeze, and all is well in Poway!

THANK YOU to Grandma (x2), Grandpa, Chris, Nic, and Diondra for your help and support! There is no way we would've been able to be here, in our new home, without you.

Day 1:

• Welcome home, Cole! yay!

Day 2:

• 8:00 am - Moving day. (Because we didn't think bringing home baby as new parents wasn't challenging enough...) Boxes everywhere.
  
• First visit with the pediatrician. Jaundice is coming back. Need to get checked again tomorrow.
• Feeding times every two hours...really?

Day 3:

• Jaundice is back and we need to use a biliblanket. Though it was tough to have a layer of separation between us, I was glad to be able to have him home with us instead of under the bright lights in an acrylic box back in the hospital.
• Brian and I are delirious from lack of sleep, but are honing our note taking skills. Does it matter that we don't remember writing down most of the stuff we logged?
  
• Unpacking the kitchen -- Chris, Nic, and Grandma have been unpacking? Wow, thanks! I didn't even notice the activity in the house.
  

Day 4:

• Hormones are taking me for a ride - I cry alligator tears of joy every time I look at Cole and/or Brian (how'd I get this lucky?), then have a giggle fit when I mistakenly think a security guard is a fireman at Target (Virgie: Think back row of the 29 Sunset)
  
• Continue to try to fit in errands/tasks between feedings
  

Day 5:

• Yay, poop! I know this will be the last time we will ever be thankful to see poop.
• Whew, our first day without any dr. appts or errands/tasks on our plate. I can't remember what happened this day though.
• Still delirious - Things we find while unpacking disappear again before we reach the destination for that object. "Can you call my wallet?" Too bad this only works for phones.
  

Day 6:

• Beginning to get my head out of the sleep deprived fog...feeling somewhat alive again
• Another yay! -- lab results are good and the biliblanket is history! I get to hold my baby close to me again!
• Bye, Chris and Nic! Thanks for coming over to look, just look, at Cole :-P
  

Day 7:

• Our first somewhat normal day. We actually have a table cleared and ready for dinner and watch tv together. Correction, I sit in front of the tv and fall asleep...only to be woken up by the little one's desire to feed.

I'm the happiest gal alive and have SO much to be thankful for!

we're "powaiians"

Yay, the deal is done and we closed on our house yesterday!

It's been a long journey which tried both B's and my patience. Can't even count how many times we've had to switch off on our tag teaming and said, "I'll take care of it this time". It took a lot of work on our side to keep on top of everything during the process, but we knew it'd be worth it in the end.

We will definitely grow into this house. The timing is cutting it right down to the wire, but we're SO glad to know that we'll be bringing our little one "home" when he's ready to make his appearance to the world.

The house is in Poway and is minutes from my office. We think folks of Poway are called Powayans, but we feel more da kine. Aloha!

womb sounds

Another trip to L&D due to high bp last night. This time, our OB (Dr. Dunn, a.k.a. "Double D" as we like to call him) was on call, so I got to skip the part about giving the doc my history. So the drill goes like this: Go into a room, provide a sample, lie on a bed, have the fetal monitor band velcroed around my belly, wait for the lab tech, "youch" a needle, bp goes down to levels lower than any I record at home, wait for the lab work, bp lowers even more, labs come back normal, "whew", head back home.

B theorizes that they're pumping something in the air ducts that lowers my bp. Since Double D was there, we got to joke around and run it past him. He actually beat us to the punch line and suggested there's a certain zen in the room that calms me down.

Curious to try to figure out what the magic formula is, my theory is that hearing the baby's heartbeat is the missing factor at home. Since then, I've been listening to the CD of womb sounds which I picked up anticipating the need for an arsenal of sleep aids for the baby. Seems to be helping! We got a two-fer on the CD - works on mama too. ha!