If You Couldn't Tell by the Previous Post...

She's here! After 39 weeks and much, much, much, anticipation, Grace made her debut in the world on May 8th, Mother's Day, at 11:24 p.m. She weighed in at 6 lbs, 14 ounces, and was 20 inches long. The last few weeks have been a whirlwind (in a good way!). Grace has definitely kept us busy. Ken was able to take the first week off of work, but then had to go back the next. So, since then, it's just been us girls (and our many animals--all of which (with the exception of Byron who ADORES Grace) aren't exactly sure what to make of this new miniature addition to our family). We have been thoroughly enjoying our time together. In fact, I already feel like it's going by too quickly. I took Grace to the doctor on Monday and she already weighed 7 lbs and had grown half an inch. The day after we left the hospital she weighed in at 6lbs and 4 ounces-we had a little trouble keeping her weight up that first week, so 7 lbs seems like a lot considering what she was the two weeks before.

It's hard to find words that describe my daughter (by the way, it's still so weird to say the words "my daughter"!) or being a mom. But I'm going to try, so here I go: absolutely beautiful (I know that as her mother, I am biased, but I am constantly amazed looking at her. It's hard to believe that Ken and I could create someone so beautiful and perfect); overwhelming (I know this word usually has a negative connotation, but in this case, that's not how I mean it. I have never felt so overcome with love before. And in turn, fear. What if something happens to her? What if I fall asleep holding her? What if she gets sick? etc, etc, etc. I can be a bit paranoid by nature, so it's only natural to have motherhood bring that out even more in me:) ); adoration (the first 48 hours of her life I couldn't put her down, unless we had a visitor who wanted to hold her, or my husband for that matter:) In our birth class they said to get as much sleep as you can in the hospital. They suggested sending our babies to the nursery so we could catch up on sleep. I had planned to send her so that I could nap, but then once she was actually here, I couldn't. The one time I sent her to the nursery so that I could eat dinner and catch a little sleep, we brought her back in within an hour. The minute she was gone, I ached to have her back); sheer awe (I know I've already said this, but I am in complete AWE that Ken and I brought something so perfect into this world. It's amazing that we were able to do that, it's amazing that my body was able to do that (I know I'm overusing the word amazing, but really I'm unsure if there is a better word to describe this experience)).

I'm hoping I may blog a bit more now that Grace is here. No guarantees though:) My track record with updating my blog is less than impressive, so we will have to see. I'm attaching a few photo collages below. The first one is from the hospital ( I look horrendous! Seriously, I do. I retained a lot of water in the hospital--I seriously came home only 6 lbs lighter than when I went in, and apparently from the photo after she was born I must have been retaining some water before she came too --possibly it's from them pumping me full of fluids? One can hope.) Anyway, back to what I was saying. The first is from the hospital and the second one is from her first week home.




The collages show up pretty small, but if you click on them it will bring them up much bigger on a separate screen.

Grace

1. state of sanctification by God; the state of one who is under divine influence.
2.. generous or helpful; goodwill.




3. mercy; clemency.
4. a pleasing or charming quality.



5. goodwill or favour.
6. elegance and beauty of movement or expression.




7. a disposition to kindness and compassion.
8. a gift from God.

Only Three More Weeks To Go!

31 weeks



33 weeks

'


35 weeks



37 weeks

BEST SHOW EVER

BEST SHOW EVER!


Just saying...

The Truth About Pregnancy

O.K. Here it is, the honest truth. Pregnancy. Like it? Love it? Hate it? How about all three? First I thought I would start with everything I have loved about being pregnant, and to be honest, I have thoroughly loved being pregnant, for the most part:)

The thing that I have loved the absolute most was just knowing that I had a little person inside of me. I have to admit, that sounds a bit science fiction, but it's the truth. I have loved knowing that Grace and I are bound together, that she can hear my voice and my heart, and that some time in the near future, my body (with some help from Ken:) is what brought her into this world. I have LOVED feeling her move. I think I posted about this before, and even though she moves frequently, I am still in awe.

I have absolutely loved sharing this experience with Ken. Yes, I am corny. But, I really have. It's added a new dimension to our relationship, yet at the same time, it's exactly how I pictured it. (Alas, I could not share the weight gain part of this experience with Ken, which is really a tragedy if you ask me.) I have loved talking about names. I have loved daydreaming together about her. I've loved lounging around our house with Ken on the weekend. Although this is obviously something we have done prior to being pregnant, I have really cherished those moments during the last 8 months. (To be honest, they have been few and far between, being that the both of us have been really busy this year, the ones we have had have been pretty great.) I have loved laughing about Donna, our nurse:) And, I've loved watching the ultrasounds together.

Sharing this experience with Fenix has also been pretty amazing. He is so excited to have a baby sister and he is going to be such a wonderful big brother. I loved watching his face the first time he felt Grace move. He is already so protective of her. This is embarrassing, but the other day I tripped and landed on the stair coming up from our family room. I was completely O.K. and I caught myself. I was more embarrassed then anything. Fenix heard me fall and ran out to check on me. When I got up he put his hands on my belly. He was concerned about the baby because "sometimes when the mom falls it can hurt the baby." How amazing is Fenix? I love him.

Let's see, what else have I loved? Preparing her room. Buying her clothes. Sharing the news of my pregnancy with my students, my friends, and my family. There have been days when I have loved realizing how much my belly has grown...

Which brings me to what I hate about pregnancy. Weight Gain:( Weight gain, the fact that I can't have aspirin, and those obnoxious shots that I get once a week. That's really all that I hate, but the weight gain is the big one:) I'm 33 weeks tomorrow. That means I have 7 more weeks to go. 7 more weeks of weight gain. Blah. I'm hoping I'm one that just stops gaining after 36 weeks when there really isn't much more room in my belly for the baby to grow. Weight gain has been my biggest dislike about pregnancy. I am in no way, shape, or form, wishing away time with Grace, but it will feel good when I get the go ahead to work out after she's here. I'm sure at that point, I will be hating the weight gain part even more. It worries me. I know I am being shallow and I keep reminding myself that's it's about something much bigger. It most definitely is well worth it, sometimes it's hard to swallow though.

So there it is, the truth about my pregnancy:) Oh, another dislike is my impatience! Although I have cherished the time I have now with Ken, I think we're both just ready for her to be here!:)

Grace's Room

We've begun working on Grace's room. So far the crib is put up and the bed made, clothes are in the drawers and in the closet (at least some of them are), and the rocking chair is in the corner waiting to help rock Grace to sleep. Unfortunately my old desk is still crammed into the corner and overflowing with books and papers that I have no idea where to put. My school has spring break in a little over two weeks and so my goals is to get the desk cleared out of there and most of the room put together. I was going to work on that this weekend, but instead decided I would work on this:






I painted a shelf as well, which we are going to hang above her bed with her name on it.

My Seemingly Always Expanding Belly

6 Weeks Pregnant. Sadly, I was never all that thin to begin with. I have a feeling that come June I'll be missing this body though.



12 Weeks


16 Weeks


20 Weeks


26 Weeks


26 Weeks


28 Weeks.
There is a huge difference between 26 and 28 weeks. It kind of frightens me if you want to know the truth:) There is definitely no denying that I'm pregnant now:)