Santa Baby (Daisy's first Christmas)

Comfort and Joy.

Daisy: 3 Weeks

D's 2 week "photo shoot"

I managed to sneak in a few pictures of the Daisy-Dot between feedlngs/diaper changes/naps (that is, if managing to set her down for 10 minutes or less in the pack 'n play constitutes as a 'nap') today. She may look content in the brief moments it took to snap the photos, but boy, let me tell you, this princess does not like to be out of mommy's (or daddy's) arms.
For. One. Single. Second.

Oh well. She sure is a cutie-patootie, isn't she?

Super Nanny Phi (and Poppy too)

Just wanted to say thank-you to my parents for being such a tremendous help this past week.

Especially Daisy's Nanny Phi who not only jumped in the car at the crack of dawn to drive 4 hours to the hospital, but braved the 2-days-before-Thanksgiving mob at the grocery store, cooked, cleaned, and put up with my hormonally-heightened OCD.

Poppy was a good Papa Bear too, sending me flowers (Daisies of course!) at the hospital with a note telling me I did a "good job". And when able to make the drive up, he made Daisy and I a homemade birthday cake. Yellow, with pudding and hand-grated Ghirardelli chocolate in the mix cake, to be exact.

They even cooked M and I a Thanksgiving feast, as well as turkey soup the next day, then stocked our freezer full of all the left over goodies.
Didn't have to lift a finger, just the Daisy-Dot.

So if I didn't tell you while you were here: THANKS Mommy and Daddy! Lova you both!

Love,
N, M & Little D

Daisy's birth story (one week later)

The thing about having a baby is that you have all the time in the world on your hands, and yet absolutely no time at all. What I mean is, even though I've been sitting at home for entire days (and nights), it's a productive day when I have time to wash my hair, let alone write. Which is why, a week after her birth (Happy one-week birthday, Daisy-Dot!) I have yet to update the blog.

So here we go: Bunkered down with Baby, Boppy, and swaddling blanket (and laptop, cell phone, remote, and multiple bottles of water within arms reach), the story of the day our sweet Daisy was born, and our lives began.

Impatient would best describe what I was feeling the days (okay, weeks) just before Daisy was born. Even though I went into labor in the early morning hours the day after her due date (but we'll get that that part in a bit), I was ready. What with already being on maternity leave for weeks and my doctor, family, friends, and co-workers all predicting that she'd be arriving early, I was ready. Ready, I say. So much so, that when strangers would stop and ask when I was due, I'd say "two weeks ago".

Which is why, at my last appointment (on my due date), before my unsuspecting doctor even managed to fully open the door and ask how I was feeling, I barked "Get this baby out of me already!".
My feelings thus made clear, she proceeded to (*TMI alert *) "strip [my] membranes," in hopes that this would somehow "trick" my body into thinking my water had broken, thereby releasing some much-needed hormones in response that would then jumpstart my contractions. The real kind. Not those of the irritatingly-teasing Braxton-Hicks variety.

By the time I returned home late that afternoon, the Braxton-Hicks had started up again, but this time I noticed, continued well into the night . By 2:00 A.M. they were just a tad more uncomfortable than the 'false' contractions I'd been feeling up to that point. By 4:00 they started to hurt a bit. By 4:15, Mr. K and I were on the way to the hospital, bags, car seat, and hopes in tow.

By the time the on-call doctor arrived around 5:30 A.M., I was in a world of hurt. However, as I somehow conceal the pain tolerance of a line-backer within a rather 'wimpy'-looking body, the doctor diagnosed my labor as "false," since I didn't appear to be in too much pain. Before sending me home though, I was given a shot of morphine which he claimed would "keep me comfortable" for the next 6 hours or so, until my (real) labor progressed. The morphine did absolutely nothing to alleviate the pain. And I never made it home. Instead, within the next 15 minutes, my water had broken.
By 8:00 A.M. I was admitted to the delivery room.

Now if any of you out there are even the least bit squeamish about having an epidural, don't be. I've had mosquito bites that 'hurt' worse. And afterwards, pain-free bliss. But still no baby.

By about 1:00 P.M. re-inforcements in the form of Nanny Phi (my mom) had arrived, but still no baby.
Wouldn't you know that little 'stinker' still kept me waiting? ; )

It wasn't until 7:00 that evening, in fact, when the doctor informed me that although I was (*TMI alert*) just 1 cm from being fully dilated, he did not think I would progress further, (and here's where I feel bad about calling her a 'stinker') but feared the baby's cord might be wrapped around her neck, thus blocking and preventing a natural delivery. By 7:15 he ordered a C-section, and by 7:45 P.M. on November 19th, 2011, our Daisy-Dot had arrived! Finally!

Sure enough, the cord had been wrapped around her little neck, but once the doctors were able to get to her via C-section, it was off and our perfectly perfect, healthy, beautiful, 7 lb, 12 oz, 19 inch-long baby girl was out!

Prior to her delivery, the doctor had asked how big I thought Daisy would be. Judging by the looks of me, his guess was 6 lbs, but mine was 7  1/2.
While still on the operating table, I made sure to remind him of this. And the fact that I had been in labor, when he'd proclaimed it "false". The score, I said, was "2 for 2"  : )

When the nursed brought her around for me to see, I could immediately tell she looked just like Daddy.
With a full head of glossy, dark-brown hair, hazel-green eyes, and an olive complexion, she is striking.
Her daddy's first words when seeing her in the operating room: "Oh my gosh, she's BEAUTIFUL!"
And she is. In so many ways. Already our lives are so much sweeter because of her.

Happy one-week birthday, Daisy-Dot! We love you more than we ever thought possible,

Mommy and Daddy

daddy's girls

"Besides the day we got married, the day Daisy was born was the best day of my life."

~Daisy's daddy

due date stats

Well, I just may be the first person in my family (on my mother's side at least) to make it to 40 weeks without a baby. Lucky me!

Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly very grateful to have a thoroughly cooked bun after over nine months of no nausea or complications. However, I can't help but wonder at how someone who, after first announcing my pregnancy to family and friends was predicted to 'topple over like an egg on stilts', is now making plans to be induced. Go figure!

Therefore, as I have no baby pounds, ounces, or inches to proudly post on this November 18th, here instead are some due date stats:

• Before I begin, however, I'd like to first point out that pregnancy is not  9 months long. While math has never been my strong suit, I'm pretty sure that 40 divided by 4 is actually 10. Just sayin'...

• Total weight gain: 30 pounds. Want some more math trivia? That's 28% of my pre-pregnancy weight. Sheesh.

• Biggest craving? A baby. Haha! But other than that, I suppose a good steak -strangely, something I haven't had a hankering for since I was about 12 or so.

• The first movie adaptation of Stephanie Myers's Breaking Dawn (of the Twilight series) is being released in theaters today. And while I'm a bit disappointed at not having that baby in my arms by now, I can't help but think how freaky it would be for D to come out on the same day as a movie about a young woman who dies while giving birth to a blood-sucking, half-vampire baby...

• Also in entertainment today, Regis Philbin says good-bye to television on Live with Regis and Kelly. In fact, this 2-weeks-on-maternity-leave-with-no-baby-now-turned-bored-couch-potato-mama is watching the last episode while typing this. Don't judge.

• People have asked what I miss most from my pre-prenancy days. Here, in no particular order: 

1. Being able to wear my wedding rings (my formerly size 5.5 ring finger has since swelled to almost a size 8). Without them, the future grandparents have pointed out that I now resemble a casting candidate for 16 and Pregnant...
2. Red wine.
3. Comfortably cuddling with the hubs. 
4. Fitting into all my shoes (My feet have also 'puffed up' a size, so even though boot season has officially commenced, I'm still in sandals. And seeing as the hubs thinks this is simply a ploy to buy new shoes, it'll be flip-flops in November for me until D makes an appearance : ).
5. Being cold. Apparently I'm cookin' for two here, and constantly running a good 10 degrees warmer than everyone else. The poor hubs has been shivering the nights away, as I can't bear to turn the heater on. So thankful that fall weather has started to kick in!

• What I'm most looking forward to: Meeting our little girl! Will she be healthy and perfect? What will her little personality be like? Will she have Daddy's hazel eyes or Mommy's curls? Will she have 'Michelin Man' baby rolls? (I sure hope so : ) Will she, as Daddy has predicted, henceforth always be "running late"? 

Impatiently still pregnant,

N

40 weeks and...

No baby.



Come on already, my fashionably-late Daisy Dot!

Dear Mrs. K,

Wheedling little compliment digger that I am, I left my students with instructions to write me a letter a week while I'm out on maternity leave. Well, I just received the first batch in the mail yesterday, and I've been laughing so hard since that I'm sure Daisy will be forced out soon!

Some cute snippets:

Dear Mrs. K,


"Has that baby come yet? Or are you still working on it?"


"Forever you are gone and I am missing you back and forth. Oh wait, I meant to ask how you are doing and remind you that if Daisy is born with a unibrow to shave and wax it."


"I think N is confused. He (I'm not sure why) thinks you have been in the hospital all this time."


"H is being extra generous to the substitute. N is being weird. T is getting all his work done. Me, well, I'm doing like always and being awesome!"


(From N:) "Baby Central to N! Baby Central to N! Come in Baby Central!"


"I hope you don't get popped."


"Even by the first day things are already pointing to miserably boring on my fictional classroom radar."


"B wanted to know, have you gotten any fatter?"


"S is acting strange. I think that he is missing you. B is also acting strange. He might also be missing you. But I don't think the sub likes S because he is messing with the door."


(From B:) Good luck, and one thing: don't pass out when you have the baby.


"I'll be the little spy here telling you everything that's going on here...even if the boys forget."


"I will tell you something, I think that all the boys really miss you. But when Daisy gets here we want to see her and hug her (well, not too hard). But tell her more about us than the boys."


To calm my OCD, one student assured me:
"There is no mess in our classroom. Everything in your classroom is in the right order. Your classroom is just the way you left it."


"O is acting bad and is weird. He is also asking a lot of questions. So everything is the same except that you are not here."


"I know E won't admit it, but she misses you. Your preggo chair is going to get cold without you in it."


(From E:) "Well of course you are probably crying because you can't see me everyday."


"Hi, why did you give us lots of work?! I don't miss you right now, maybe later."


"Love always,"


"Your friend"
"Your knuckle-headed chipmunk"
"The Little Fat Boy"


"P.S. Tell the Old Man I said congrats on being a dad, and he better be a good one or I might have to teach him a lesson."

The final stretch!

Dear Daisy,

Your daddy and I tried to convince you that 11.11.11 would make for an awesome birthday, but it seems you've inherited your mama's stubborn streak...the doctor says you've yet to make any signs of emerging.

Though for the life of us, your doctor and I can't imagine why, seeing as you are currently inhabiting the very last square inch of that overly-cozy 'room' of yours -so much so, that your cute, round days of 'bumphood' have long since been numbered. Instead, whenever you make the slightest movement or turn, your not-so-little baby parts now project noticeably and awkwardly from my belly.

At the moment, my dear Daisy Dot, you are a trapezoid.

However, should you not show signs of arriving by your November 18th birthday, the doctor  has scheduled an induction on the 22nd, to be sure you at least make it in time for your very first turkey day!  Your daddy and I will sure have much to be thankful for this year.

Just so long as no one expects your mom (who is hosting this year) to do the cooking. Or cleaning.

Love you,
Mama (& Daddy too)

Surprise Shower!

Our sweet church friends surprised us with yet another baby shower!

Have to admit, I felt a little guilty, since I've been so tired after work lately that I haven't been attending our 'life group' gatherings on a regular basis. I was going to stay home again, but M told me that it was "very important" that I attend this week -so glad I did! And so sorry I had been such a pooper!

The theme was all things Daisy -Daisy flowers, Daisy music ("A Bicycle Built for Two"), even mini pizzas fashioned into a Daisy shape! Too stinkin' cute. As were the gifts! D will certainly be the most finely-dressed flower in the valley.

Thanks, LG!

Love,
N, M and D

Check List

"Bag packed? Legs shaved?"

~A text from my mother, aka 'Nanny Phi'

diaper fudge & potato babies

My awesome 8th grade students threw me a baby shower a few weeks ago!

I know, super sweet of them, huh? And not only was it really sweet, but completey creative and fun -they even decorated my room.

After feasting on fudge (Served on diapers instead of plates! Haha!), candy, and doughnuts, we made 'potato babies' (Sort of an inside joke, as one of the students once wrote a story about an expectant mother who went to the hospital, only to give birth to a potato).

Several students even brought in presents! D now has enough bows and diapers to last about a year ;)

She also got some adorable picture frames, blankets, and cards!

D sure is one much-loved baby already!



Homemade fudge in a diaper. Yum!

Showing off our 'potato babies'

The decorations and goodies

The Great Pumpkin

M and I visited a pumpkin patch this weekend...a task easier said than done, considering the Texas drought has put all the local farms out of business. But we did manage to find a church which was hosting a 'patch' fundraiser -and had imported theirs from New Mexico.

Fortunately, our lil' pumpkin (due in just a few weeks now!) will be of a more home-grown variety : )

School Shower

My very generous coworkers threw D and I a baby shower last week. They were so generous, in fact, that I had a tricky time fitting all her gifts into my tiny car! She's sure going to be one well-dressed, well-diapered baby!

(My students also hosted their own shower a couple weeks ago -more on that when I get the pictures back : )

So thankful to be surrounded by such support!

Some of the more flattering pictures (at almost 35 weeks):

34 weeks

While visiting the future grandparents last weekend, the talented Jackie Luo met up with the Daisy-Bump and I : )

Here are a couple previews from the shoot:

3 years

Married my baby-daddy 3 years ago today!
He truly is the most patient man alive, and the best gift God ever gave me.
So thankful that I have yet another little present in the making. Your daddy and I can't wait to 'unwrap' you, little D!

day-trippers

The Hubs treated D and I to a pre-anniversary day trip to Austin this weekend.

Our hodgepodge of an adventure began with crepes downtown, progressed to strolling the flea market for cute baby clothes (our little chiquita got an embroidered Mexican sundress), stocking up on organic bread, chocolate, and Italian soda at Whole Foods, browsing the dog house 'barkitecture' exibit and its discerning 4-legged attendees, a romantic dinner for two, and ultimately, watching the bats take flight from under the bridge at sunset.

Looking forward to bringing our little D along next time!

33 weeks

This barkitechture patron was as big as a horse...and therefore made one  bumpity mama feel small (and happy) by comparison : )

M's favorite design

My favorite : )

See the smoke-streak of bats in the distance?!

8 month maternity photos

Second day of fall, and a beautiful, glorious morning of 65 degrees (which of course crept up to 98 degrees later that day -but thankful for the relief nevertheless!). SO excited for cooler weather and the promise of a fall baby. I can't help but get giddy over seeing pumpkins, Halloween candy, and pomegranates for sale at the grocery store; it somehow makes it all seem that much more close and real.

What to do on such a 'beautiful, glorious' fall morning? Take pictures, of course!

M and I are so thankful to the wonderfully sweet Dee Dee of Images by Dee Dee for taking our maternity pictures. A student of mine made the 'Daisy' letters -I know she'll be thrilled that we used them in the shoot!

31 weeks

30 weeks!!!

30 weeks today!

When informed of this fact this morning, the hubs pointed out that "now we're both in our 30's"  ; )