She started making her grand entrance Friday morning around 9am, March 14th and finally joined us at 5:04am on March 15th. 8lbs 10.5oz, 21 inches long. With enormous feet. I felt as if I recognized that one foot that was continuously in my side! And imagine my surprise when she came out with a full head of hair. It's hard to tell but she sure looks like Ed - a real California girl with blonde hair, blue eyes (for now), and skin that looks like it just might tan. Ill give a full account of her birth in a post soon, when I get another moment to write things out this week. For now I'll say it was a perfect homebirth without any complications - exactly what I was hoping for.
Ed is responsible for the first name choice. It's from a song by The Cure, "Letter to Elise" which he can sweetly play for her on his guitar. I got to pick out the middle name, Louise, same as my own and my mother, originating from my great aunt Hazel who passed away in a car accident far too young.
My new mantra is "one thing too many". Bathroom, shower, water refill and a snack? One thing too many. Sleep, pump, feed, and brush teeth? One thing too many. It's not always the same thing that gets sacrificed although often sleep is the first to go... But it's amazing how Elise seems to know that I'm trying to squeeze one last thing into her downtime and she'll pop right awake!
She's really perfect and we're such saps for her. It might sound weird but I even love her cry. She's one loud kid - came out crying, didn't even wait until she was all the way out! She sings to herself and coos, loves to dance and flail, and I just can't get enough of all of it. Except the part where she's not a fan of sleeping from 8pm to 3am - that's tough. One benefit to her taking her time making her arrival? She's amazingly alert. She just seems like an older baby all around. I look at her and already feel like there can't be enough time in all our days to witness her growing up as much as I want. Like I said, huge saps. :)
The kitties have been great little guardians and just hang around keeping an eye on things.
Ed was such a great birth coach. Another birth story tease - the midwife didn't show up to help in earnest until 20 mins before Elise came out into the world and I had already started pushing. So for hours on end it was just Ed and Mom making do and they were incredible. Ed is an amazing dad (surprising no one, right?). He and Elise are so in love with each other. My mom and sister are still here helping and seriously, they've been invaluable. I'm so grateful they have the time and ability to be out here for such an extended stay. I'll be incredibly sad to see them leave on Wednesday. We're enjoying every moment left and looking forward to upcoming family visits!
The view from the rental apartment in our complex where Ck is staying with Emilia
Omi and Elise selfies! :)
Emilia cooking her giraffe and super excited about it
Thank you to everyone who has expressed joy and love for our new addition. I'm a big emotional mess and all the sweet things you say get me every time. :) And so a little extra treat for you, here's my adorable (and comparatively so big and grown up!) niece seemingly taking her first real selfie:
So much to cover so brace yourself for a longish post! Of course we can start with my birthday, which was incredible. Like I said, no big plans. I got my last prenatal massage (in theory at least, because if baby is super late, I'll be going in again to try to get things moving). I'll really miss going in regularly for those. During the day I met up with Ed for lunch at work which was really nice. I just wanted to spend time with him. I know time with just the two of us is quickly coming to an end so on my special day that's what I decided to demand. :) I treated myself to my own personal 'birthday cake':
Cinnabon I love you.
Yep, that's right, Cinnabon all the way baby. I've been thinking about it all pregnancy but haven't indulged in one all 9 months. I figure there's no better time than now! I was going to take a nice long nap after that, but then the mail came and I opened a gift from my sister that got me so worked up, I couldn't nap. I just stayed up and danced!
I will always love Robbie Williams. I just can't resist. Best of all, there's a song on this album he wrote for his child that I'll be able to sing to our baby.
Then for dinner, we went to my favorite Indian place here, Sakoon in Mountain View. It was lovely. I may not have a lot of space for food, but I sure enjoyed revisiting Mountain View and our old haunts. And what did Ed get me you might be wondering? Other than a perfectly wonderful relaxing day.... he got me tickets... ...to see Pentatonix! :) I'm so excited. He went all out and got us passes to the VIP room so I have an assured place to sit down if my feet get tired, a private bathroom area and even some appetizers. The concert is this Saturday so we'll see how much baby likes all my dancing and all the vibrating of the music. I can hardly contain myself. It's funny, I asked Ed how he knew I would love this, and he said one day I walked by and out of the blue apropos of nothing said, "I freakin' LOVE Pentatonix!" And he knew he should keep an eye out for that. Funny, I even posted their video last week. You'll be hearing all about the concert in next week's post... as long as I'm not in labor or if baby has made an early appearance. Guess I should post another video from them this week just to celebrate.... I'm a big fan of their cover of "Pusher Love Girl" by Justin Timberlake (I highly advise listening with headphones):
Otherwise, things have been lovely. We had our last birth prep class. One of the ladies in the class actually went into labor the day before... and she had the same due date as me! Yikes! She kindly shared a picture and her baby is beautiful, with more hair than I have ever seen on a newborn. We also had our last group prenatal session at our midwife group. Unfortunately, I was feeling pretty awful on Saturday, (maybe all the rich food?), so I didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped, but it was nice seeing everyone one more time and getting our little blessing from the group. There's still a chance we'll be there for another meeting, which would be on Mar. 8th, but we'll see. :) And of course, Valentine's day was wonderful as always. We had a nice steak dinner at home and watched a romantic comedy.
My steak looks like Ed's steak's pet.
I even got a backrub! (To be fair, Ed's very generous with the back and foot rubs) It was all low key, which is pretty much all a big ole pregnant lady can handle. I did get to wander around Whole Foods for dinner supplies which was actually kind of fun because they were decked out! Flowers everywhere, dessert tables in every aisle... I snapped a picture of the dessert counter because I've never before seen so many princess cakes freshly made!
The princess cakes are the pink domed ones in the center
Alright, alright, bump update!
How far along? 38 Weeks How Big Is Baby? 19.5 inches, a leek? ~6.8 lbs (there's no way of knowing at this point really) Sleep: Oh sleep. I'm trying to squeeze this in as much as possible but it's tough. Regular wake ups every 2 hrs, and a big wake up at 3am. Every night. Poor Ed says my dreams must be getting crazier because I'm doing more sleep yelling and singing. :) He's a good man for not kicking me out of the bedroom.
Best moment this week: Sorry, can't pick a moment. The whole week was wonderful. Turning 28, Valentine's Day, last birth prep class (which ended with a foot bath and massage from Ed), and last prenatal group... all amazing, wonderful things.
Movement: Baby is doing his/her best to make me nervous. We're in a bit of a posterior position right now. It's not a terrible thing, it can make for a more painful labor though, so we're spending a lot of our day trying to get some rotation going on there. That means lots of stretches and crawling around on the floor and no reclining for me.
Symptoms: Boy am I feeling beat these days. Baby feels significantly lower so I am waddling a ton and struggling to move gracefully when it comes to getting up and down from the couch/floor/bed...
Food cravings/aversions: Nothing really... okay maybe I could go for a biiiiig glass of wine and biiiiig beer. But past that, nothing really.
Gender: I've been reading parenting books and I am so glad I've been insistent on primary colors and staying away from pastels and gendered messaging. No matter what we have, I'll be using the same clothing on the second baby!
Belly Button in or out? Still half and half - this is related to the posterior positioning thingy, once baby turns, his/her back will press against my belly and push it out fully (in theory)
What I miss: Nothing really this week... just enjoying the moments. Maybe I miss the part of the pregnancy where I wasn't feeling the pressure of the due date looming.
What I am looking forward to: Mom's arrival!!!! So soon guys! :) She'll be here next Wednesday and I cannot wait. She's the first of many family visits coming in the next two months.
Funny moment of the week: For our last birth prep class we did a pot luck. I tried to make deviled eggs... I forgot that my temper is pretty short these days so the idea of peeling boiled eggs probably wasn't the smartest idea. I had made it through 5 eggs, frustratingly destroying all of them and trying to remain calm. That 6th egg though... I may have lost my cool halfway through unsuccessfully peeling it, starting laughing maniacally, and crushed it, half shell and all, in my fist, oozing out onto the counter. Like the hulk. It was about then I stepped away from the eggs and decided to just buy some pre-cut fruit from Whole Foods. :)
Labor Signs: Nothing really? It's hard to tell but I think we're just in a holding pattern until this baby gives us the go sign.
Weekly Wisdom: Your body will do what it's going to do. Yes you have input and can help things along, but there's only so much you can do at the end of the day. This week we discussed how the "full term" status has recently changed to 39 weeks, and in the home country of one of the other expectant clients, full term is considered 42 weeks. Oy! Milestones: We are some two weeks away from the due date... Can't believe it. Where did all the time go?!
And now some Emilia for you! Just cause you read this whole crazy post :)
So let's see, I left off right in the middle of Friday.... we were bouncing around Discovery Park and planned on making our way a bit more north on our friend Jeanne's recommendation again and checking out the Chittenden Locks.
It was pretty nice walking around the park and seeing the boats move through. I remember the first time I had the whole locks concept explained to me when our school visited the C&O Canal. I still think it makes only partial sense.
Also did I mention I'm pretty terrified of boats? So as we're watching this process I keep turning to Ed and explaining to him how boats make no sense as well and how they are bound to topple over at any moment and sink and how I should probably go rescue that little girl that is standing on that boat oh so calmly not knowing the death trap she is on. Ed rightfully just shakes his head.
After the locks we made our way to another restaurant from The Layover that I was determined to visit: The Walrus and the Carpenter. It was a bit chaotic considering it's very small, max capacity 45 if I remember right.
Ed's excited!
Ok. Ok. Straight talk. These are the best oysters I've ever had. It was ridiculous how delicious they were. And something I wanted to say before but I don't want people to get the wrong idea. Seattle kind of smells like oysters - fresh, watery, muted ocean. I'm sure that contributed to my being so in love with it all.
I loved this little guy, all covered in his finery. :) I know, they're just barnacles, but it looked like it was all dressed up!
Don't. Even. Say. It. I was so mad I cracked the yoke before taking a picture. I got too excited for this steak tartare. It was pretty great.... I think I prefer using quail eggs just because it's a bit less yoke. And I like our Eric Ripert recipe mostly because it's tangy-er. This was more rich and meaty tasting, with a straight forward flavor. I realize I'm saying raw meat tastes meaty but, our other recipe takes a bit of the animal taste away and you have something more varied with the cornichons and a little hot sauce. Still thought this was very good, just not my all time favorite.
Ok this picture doesn't make it look great, but these brussel sprouts were fantastic. A little salty, but I loved how much they were cooked and how fresh it tasted, despite the appearance.
This was the pickled herring on toast with beets, topped with salmon roe. This was also really good. If you like herring, you'll like this. No we didn't eat the head :) We were pretty stuffed so we didn't get a dessert but I did have a liiiiiittle bit more room so.... more oysters! We picked out three of our favorites and had two more of each. If you don't like oysters you need to go here, try these oysters and if your mind isn't changed you are just missing out my friend.
We drove back to the hotel and refreshed ourselves for the evening. Now, I think I'm portraying our visit as one that followed a particular timeline, let me clarify. We did everything EARLY. Partially because of reservation issues, but also because we would generally skip breakfast and just do two meal days, cramming in activities but still ready for bed by like 9:30. I know, we're WILD! But! This night we decided to go out and enjoy ourselves, hell it was the weekend. So we went down to a bar in Pioneer Square called Merchant's Cafe. It's the oldest restaurant in Seattle and by cafe they really mean bar. It reminded me a lot of Wheaton's Royal Mile and Barnaby's mashed together. I should also say for those of you thinking of visiting, Pioneer Square is... sketchy. I felt safe with Ed and at one point we did see a huge herd of police officers on horses, but I'm not sure I would recommend hanging around there solo, late at night. That being said we had a great experience. The bartender at Merchant's was really nice and gave us free tickets to a nearby comedy club so we walked on over for that.
The brick walls are all part of that underground I was talking about in the last post... this all used to be street level. And wait I see a familiar face....
The comics were great, and made for a fun end to the night. It was a biiiiiig night out! And we still managed to be in bed by 11pm. That is what I call winning.
Our last day in Seattle we didn't really have any plans so we just decided to wing it. We stopped for breakfast and I got my salmon fix. Bagel and lox, one of my all time favorites. Ed did the ham, egg and cheese you see across the table from me.
Trudged over to the Aquarium which was pretty nice. Boy if you want to test to see if you're ready to have kids? Visit the aquarium on the weekend. Inundated with babies and toddlers and families desperate to stay on top of it all. Either my patience levels are miraculously growing or Seattle has some kind of niceness intoxicant in the air because I just want to pick up all the little ones and give them a biiiiiiig hug.
They also have the largest species of octopus...
Here's the big guy on the move:
And then Ed communicated with some fishies:
This little girl was entranced. She wasn't moving an inch and her dad was patiently waiting by her side.
The next part of the aquarium I didn't enjoy as much. The animals were stunning but the enclosures were.... way too small. Painfully small. The kind of small that makes your heart ache. They are building new habitats as we speak so they are rectifying the problem... I hope.
These guys below were being really active and cute, showing off. I'm glad I got the shot of the one guy in the back diving in, flippers in the air and all!
Argh! I wish you could see the below picture like we were seeing in person. There are a bunch of clouds out there but in between them you could see all the mountains and snow dotting them. It was really beautiful. Lame photo....
We stumbled onto a CSI: Seattle moment....
Yes sir, I think you are my prime suspect!
We then made our way to the art museum... it was pretty neat. The usual. They had a ton of written works and art from Egypt which is one of my favorite times. I used to be fascinated by those organ jars they used when preparing bodies for mummification.
And also we saw this piece and I swear. The women look just like that Judy skit from SNL...
We ended up walking around a bit more, headed over to Le Pichet for lunch, yes, another The Layover pick.
This was about the same size as Walrus and just as crowded. I picked out the quiche special of the day and it was everything I wanted. Light texture, rich taste, crisp top. It was just delicious.
We also tried the smoked trout with creme fraiche, apples and potatoes. I really liked it even though I was a little uncertain about it all.
We went back to the hotel to regroup again, but this time mostly a forced rest because there were no reservations for anywhere open before 9pm. We opted for a sushi place for dinner and I think we sure did choose right. Everything was delicious. We also had the sweetest waitress, named Misty I think, who misplaced our ticket and was worried we had been sitting too long waiting to order. We were absolutely fine and enjoying ourselves and Misty bent over backwards trying to accommodate us which was unbelievably nice of her, going so far as to buy us some edamame and pay for one of our rolls. Little did she know how amazing she was helping to make the end of our trip to Seattle.
I'd tell you what we ordered but all I can remember are names, dishes left to right: The Union, The Barcelona Sunset and The Last Samuri.
We walked around and took it all in one more time, even stopping by the (closed at that hour) flagship Starbucks store.
It was an amazing trip and the absolute best birthday present. I couldn't have asked for more, and I wouldn't hesitate to visit again. If our family lived close to the area it would certainly be on the list of places I would like to live.
Ok, thanks for sticking with me guys, I know this post has been looooong but let me just squeeze in the briefest recap of my actual birthday-day!
Ed got up ridiculously early and made his breakfast casserole which, admittedly, doesn't photograph well, but is hands down right up there as my favorite breakfast. Alongside honeymoon french toast with rum butter of course.
He picked out the sweetest card:
And gave me a fantastic birthday gift. I've been obsessed with this show lately, singing all the songs from it and imagining a future with three very bizarre children.
And for my birthday lunch? Ethiopian! I used to think the bread was gross when I was little but boy have I come around.
The rest of the day was spent on the phone with friends and family, a quick but delightful afternoon nap, and then an evening course sponsored by the community on Personal Emergency Preparedness. I now know what to do in a hazardous material emergency. Ask me the next time you see me!
Thanks for reading this blog guys. I really appreciate the support and interest in our lives. Like I said in the last couple posts, we miss you guys on the east coast a whole bunch and we're hoping that through this blog we'll feel a bit more conencted to you all. Like we haven't been away at all! :)
