what we did in november

well hello and happy december!
want to know the happenin's of november?

this past month was SO RAINY here in san diego! pretty much every weekend brought torrents of rain, so our activities were limited to the indoorsy-types. that kind of sounds boring, but it was kind of relaxing.

one of these rainy weekends chris & i went on a fancy date to the prado in balboa park while my family watched little nora girl. neither of us had ever been to the prado, but had a gift certificate to use. it was very nice- including the wet, chilly stroll through the park that took us there. balboa park is rather whimsical at night in the rain. the restaurant itself is probably the most eclectic we'd ever been to-from the decor, all the way down to the dishes on the menu. chris found that relatively entertaining. definitely worth visiting, if you're ever in the area and up for it.

also mention-worthy for november is that we finally bought a house! closed escrow and got our keys the day before thanksgiving. after over 2 years of looking, we FINALLY found the perfect one. we're pretty excited about it. for more details go here.

and of COURSE, this november we had our first thanksgiving as a family of 3. :) we spent it with my family and a whole bunch of friends. it was a regular ol' party. nora even had some mashed potatoes and stuffing... turns out she actually likes to eat, she just doesn't like baby food (took us forever to figure that out. now she just needs teeth so she can eat big-people food better!). in any case, it was a very happy thanksgiving. hope you all had a happy one too! :)

8 months

little nora is growing up so fast! saturday was her 8 month birthday, and we've made significant progress this last month in regards to eating solid food and sleeping through the night! :) we're all happier campers these days.

nora girl's newest discovery is clapping, as of a few weeks ago. she is also experimenting with different syllables to babble in addition to the ol' "da-da" and "ma-ma". she's also getting pretty good at mimicking, as it's her favorite game. she especially likes to make clicking noises in attempt to get someone to click back at her. she's stolen her daddy's heart with that game. :)

we've been trying to get her to wave at us for the past couple months, but with inconsistent results. lately we've gotten to get her to wave back a couple times, but she still just prefers to clap whenever someone waves at her, 'cuz she's so excited. :) maybe we'll have some progress by next month.

nora's getting super good at pulling herself up onto stuff and balancing very well. she's definitely not a baby that's scared of falling down- she's learned how to do that without hurting herself, and is now as fearless as ever. the only time she ever really exercises any caution is when she hears the word "no" from mommy or daddy. once again, i am thoroughly surprised at how obedient my kid is- i figured any child coming from my gene pool would have difficulty with the concept. ;) no doubt i'll get what's coming later on.

last but not least: we STILL have a toothless baby! no teeth! not even a sign of them! i wonder if she'll get at least her two front teeth by christmas? (i'm not thinking so, but we'll still wait and see!)

posting a little late

i did not post a "month of september" review at the beginning of october because it would have essentially said:
"chris worked all the time, and i was sick as a dog."
that's pretty much how october went as well.
and i'll just say it here, because it's been said everywhere else already and will explain why i've been so sick:
we're expecting baby #2!
more details here.

so essentially, it's been all about survival, man. although chris was able to land a detail for the next whole year that will enable him to get weekends and holidays off- which means we're gonna pretend to be normal for the next 12 months! celebration, people. celebration.

also, nora turned 7 MONTHS OLD a couple weeks ago! the only thing i can really say that she does differently than last month is that she feeds herself now, and is starting to cruise. otherwise she's just gotten really adept at crawling and climbing. i think object permanence has set in, because she WILL follow me around a corner, crying if i need to put something away for a second... and i'm sure i already mentioned the separation anxiety. "no, mommy, don't leave me for one minute to go wash your hands! waaaah! worst thing ever!!!!" sometimes babies are silly. she has also learned the meaning of "no" and will obey 9 times out of 10. which is pretty impressive to me, because my teenage brothers have yet to do the same. ;)

nora girl still doesn't have teeth yet, and we've started feeding her formula because the mama cow is drying up. :) it's actually kind of convenient. chris and i were able to go out on a bona fide DATE the other day, thanks to my babysitter-siblings and wondrous formula. it was wonderful. :)

and that's all that's been happenin' around here for the past couple months!
perhaps next month's post will have pictures. stay tuned. ;)

nora's half birthday

a couple days ago nora turned 6 months old!

and of course, we had a doctor's visit and shots that day as well. she's still relatively tall for her age, but everything else is looking more average. i am pleased to announce that she handled her immunizations much better this time than any other time she got them.

look at the bandaids on my thighs! weee!

new developments for nora this month:

• crawling. she really gets around now.
• getting into a sitting position on her own, from laying down.
• pulling herself up to standing if she's near a sturdy enough object.

-nora has also developed separation/stranger anxiety. it's kind of obnoxious.
-she STILL doesn't like food, but we're making her eat it anyways.
-but she does like drinking water out of a regular cup. isn't that funny?
-nora still doesn't have teeth. there are absolutely NO signs of anything popping through those gums. which is fine by me. i'm actually hoping she remains toothless until i wean her. i would prefer not to deal with breastfeeding a piranha baby.

daddy got her ready for church.
-incidentally-
 this is the position i usually find her in when she wakes up in the morning.
standing up, holding onto the crib rail.
and she's usually crying.

happy half-birthday to our little nora-girl!

september already?

holy smokes. i swear it just turned august last week.
anyways, we have not done very much as a family this last month, because mister christopher has been working 6 day weeks, thus decreasing the amount of "weekends" we had at our disposal.

it was also a hundred degrees out most of the month, so the only family outing we had (besides costco and such) was a brief weekend at the beach.

it was very nice though. that's the beauty of san diego- when things get a little too toasty inland we can always count on perfect weather at the beach. almost makes up for the cost of living, doesn't it? ;)

happy 5 month birthday!!!

like, last week. but better late than never.

she's getting so big!

i kind of lose track of nora's achievements as they happen. just because they happen so quickly and then she's onto the next thing.

for instance. nora started sitting up on her own- as in for real and not toppling over 5 seconds after we sat her up- and then suddenly it was the only thing she wanted to do. and then she started scooting around on her bum a few days later. i'd set her up on her blanket, leave her for a minute and come back, and she'd sitting up in the middle of the living room, a few feet from where she started. it totally surprised me the first time she did that.

she will pick up EVERYTHING. and she WILL gnaw on it. and when she's not mouthing it, she's passing it from hand to hand and waving it around.  we gotta be careful, because when we eat dinner with her the first thing she tries for is a handful of food. and we don't let her have that yet.

she rolls over both ways. but she doesn't really like rolling from her stomach to her back. it scares her. so she prefers to cry to be picked up instead, when she gets stuck on her tummy.

she recognizes her name. it's so cute.

she's started babbling and mimicking us when we talk to her. her favorite is "dada" which i can't quite understand- i've been promoting "mama", but she doesn't seem to like it quite as much.

she makes the chewbacca noise. i believe she got that from her father.

she's started reaching for mama when she's tired of being held by daddy. ;)

first time in the pool with uncle brad-o. she liked it.

and the most celebrated achievement of all: we have successfully established a consistent bedtime for nora. cheers all around for sanity!

joo-lye

right now it's august. which means that i should probably post about all the stuff we did last month.

july seemed pretty busy, but really, we only did a few things. maybe having a kid just makes us feel like busy all the time. :)

the #1 cool thing of the month: chris is no longer on the night shift. thank. heavens.

chris had the 4th off so we could celebrate together. we went to my grandparents for a BBQ, and nora was a monster the entire day. hence, no pictures, and no fireworks. when we got home and she fell asleep, and we were so grateful for the reprieve, we did too.

we also took a trip over to maine this month from the 6th to the 12th for chris's sister's wedding. it's nice in maine this time of year. we stayed with chris's parents in a cabin on the shore in lamoine. flying with an infant is probably the most stressful thing ever- i will never judge the parents of a screaming infant on a flight ever again. you can hop on over to my other blog for more stories and pictures about the trip. there are a lot. seriously.

at chris's sister's wedding:

picture courtesy of Michael Gerardi

that's it for this month! cheers.

happy 4 month birthday!

well, maybe not so happy. we got shots today. we didn't like em too much. at least tylonel tastes good.



featuring the tazmanian devil this time. so befitting of her personality!


on a less traumatizing note, nora also got weighed and measured today. she's 2'1" (or 25 inches, or the height of my knees), and weighs 14lbs 12oz... not a feather-weight anymore. i would tell you that chris has started to complain of back pain when he carries her around in the "princess hold" for any extensive amount of time, but i won't because that makes him sound like a sissy. ;)

stuff that little nora can do now:

•  laugh (and promptly get the hiccups afterwards, like her father)
• grab toys, which instantly go straight to her mouth
• grab her feet (and copious amounts of her mother's hair)
• roll over.
• vocalize a tremendous amount of non-screaming, non-crying noises (although she does a lot of the other stuff too)
• make wet-raspberry noises with her mouth
• drool (a LOT)

while we were at the doctor's office today the nurse made a comment about the strength and level of physical activity this girl exudes, preceded by the word "wow" (we had a hard time measuring her. when nora's on her back, she'll either a} pull up into a perpetual stomach crunch and stare you down grunting until she's picked up, or b} roll over. flattening her out was a fun undertaking. you'd have better luck pinning down a fish out of water). then she prophesied that little nora is going to be a mover as soon as she finds out how to get around. i think i can safely say that i have the most opposite of a chill baby that anyone could ever get. apparently her dad was just like that as a kid. we just came back from visiting his parents, and the stories- oh the stories! if nora's anything like chris we are going to have an exciting time raising her, to say the least. :-)

june

this month we:

hit up some more parks. lake jennings and lindo-lake to be specific.
lake jennings: beautiful. but it'll cost you $1 to walk around. i'm not kidding.

lindo lake: nice to take a stroll around. but don't let the name fool you- it's less of a lake and more of a pond. but a pretty pond, nonetheless. and people fish in it, from what we saw. oh yeah, and there is this... faux-gym equipment chillin' around there also (kiiiiinda ridiculous. but whatever). we had a few laughs on those contraptions.

and then my sister got married. as beautiful as she was, i got zero pictures of her, because i was very busy holding little nora who was not-a-happy-camper that day. BUT i did happen to convince my big-little-bro take a few pictures of our tiny little fambily in front of the temple while we were waiting.

we will be going inside there someday soon, i think. :)

then we went to this bonfire with mr.&mrs.B and other friends/coworkers of chris. it was a good time.

the end.

happy 3 month birthday!

little nora bora is 3 months old... hooray! this is the benchmark that chris and i have been looking forward to with great anticipation- the conclusion of the "missing trimester", the age when babies supposedly figure out how to quit screaming all the time, and so forth. in celebration of this miraculous "coming of age", i drank a little bit of milk for the first time since i found out it gave her awful, demonic gas (about 11 weeks ago). verdict: it still gives her gas, but she can handle it MUCH better than she used to. awesome possum.

anyways, nora's 3 month birthday landed on father's day. and unfortunately, her daddy-o had to work that day, but we had a grand ol' time anyways.

see? grand ol' time. she is trying to eat her dress here.

nora is also a growing fiend. we're not exactly sure how big she is now (her next doctor's appointment is still a month away), but just this past week i had to retire some of her cute 3 month old clothes because she's already too big for them. awwww. but that's ok, because there ain't nothin' wrong with a sturdy, chubby baby. :)

see the chub.



some of the fascinating things she's learned to do this past month: drool profusely, nom-nom on her hands, and make a variety of different, happy noises. she's a regular little cutie pie. we love her.

may's show-and-tell.

well, we've wrapped up the month of may, and summer is well under way (yessssss!). essentially, this month has pretty much been an assemblage of doctor's appointments for all of us, but we did find time to squeeze in an outing here and there. here's where we went:

my two kids & the jungle gym

el monte park: a GIGANTIC park located in the bowels of lakeside. it's actually pretty nice. we went there on one of the hottest days in may. there was nobody else there... unless you count a skittish wild turkey. with the entire park at our disposal, chris decided to have fun on one of the many jungle gyms (like the big kid he is). oh, and although this isn't in any way related to the park, i just want to mention that on the way home, a bird hit our windshield (such a memorable experience).

shhhh... no one can tell we're trespassing, right?

el capitan reservior: not because we have a boat, or even have friends who have a boat. we went there because we wanted to see the lake, and then ended up hiking our way up a "restricted road", which, we believe, would have eventually led us straight back up to alpine. we would have found out for sure, had there not been a giant, locked gate a few miles in. so we turned around and walked back the way we came. it was nice- very pretty country back there.

chillin at the bistro

del mar: mcdonald's bistro and then the beach afterwards. what is a mcdonald's bistro? essentially the fanciest mcdonald's in the existence of all mcdonald's, with an expanded menu. we hung out with the chef there for a while and then took a twilight stroll on the beach. nice area, del mar. you know it's a nice area when you follow a ferrari out of a fast food restaurant that has a chandelier in the bathroom. {side note: ever driven directly behind a ferrari? nervewracking. that's one car you really want to avoid rear-ending if you can help it}

lake laguna. nilly nora is chris's joey for the day.

the lagunas: with our fantastic neighbors, mr.&mrs. B! it was initially their outing to begin with, but they were kind enough to invite us along with them. they happen to have a baby daughter as well, so her and nora got to ride around with us in matching front carriers all day. mr. B also had a serious looking camera, with which he took this photo (so nice of him- thanks mr. B!).

2 months!

little nilly nora turned two months old this week, and how more appropriate to celebrate her 2 month birthday by a visit to the doctor and some immunizations! :)

{scene from the doctor's office:}

nurse: "well she must look like her daddy because she looks nothing like you!"
me: "yeah, pretty much. if i didn't personally give birth to this baby myself, i wouldn't think she's even mine."

and that's the truth. but she's cute though. like her dad. ;-) so i'll keep her.

so turns out our little girl's head isn't as gigantic as i imagined it to be. i used to tease chris all the time that she had his "big giant head," but now it looks like i can't really do that anymore. turns out, her head's a rather normal size. however, as far as everything else goes, she's definitely in the "big giant" category. she's in the 95th percentile for height, and 83rd percentile in weight for her age; which explains why she's busted out of the clothes in which she should be fitting and is, instead, wearing 3-month old size clothes. but this works for me for a couple of reasons:

a) the more nora eats, the less calories i have to burn off
b) lifting and carrying a 12lb baby around all the time is totally helping me see a return in arm definition.

of course, as far as the shots were concerned, she didn't quite like those all that much- poor baby. as sad as it was, it had to be done. i had the opportunity to study most all of the diseases for which she was immunized back when i took microbiology. after learning what i did in that class, there is no way i'd let my child go without getting vaccinated. even though she had to endure a few boo-boos for it.

2 month old nora, stylin' with her bugs bunny bandaids on her legs from gettin' shots.

so far, it seems like nora is developing a bit of a personality. like, a rather high maintenance sort of personality. she seems to want a lot of attention all the time or else. chris refers to her as "princess nora" and has a special "throne hold" for when she is particularly fussy- whereby he carries her around and around the apartment, narrating as he goes. example:

"and this room is the bathroom! it has a bunch of mirrors and lights!... you like that? hmm? ... no? you don't? ok then. on to the next room..."

and so on, and so forth.

that's the hold i'm talking about.

when she's not too busy fussing, she does actually smile. she actually squeaked out a few laughs the other day. a welcome (albeit brief) respite from her usual agitation. i'm thinkin she'll be a whole lot happier once she can move around on her own- she's been able to hold her head up and steady for a while now so she can check out what's going on around her; she's doing all she can to roll over (she's almost got it down); and during "tummy time" she's already doing push-ups and trying to scoot. all a little early, i know, but she's chris's daughter- she's got places to go and things to do! i have a sneaky feeling that this child might give me a run for my money here in the future... we will have to see. :)

 

 

 

 

the month of april.

so this april has basically been a blur of sleepless nights, changing diapers and doing baby laundry and it doesnt seem like there's been time for much else. but of the things that happened this month there are these:

chris is on a new schedule- after over a year and a half of working on the day shift, he decided to switch it up a bit and work the swing shift- which goes from 5pm to appx 2am. therefore, he gets home around 3:30am and sleeps until noon. he likes it. i think it's weird.

chris has another birthday- another one?! how old is this guy anyways? answer: 16. just kidding. he's 28. he only acts like a teenager occassionally. since i have oodles of time for reflection and contemplation when i sit and feed the baby a dozen times a day, i figured i could probably put a little bit more thought into his present than the prior years when i was working and schooling. therefore, i hid his gifts and made him go find them by means of a treasure hunt. he liked it, and i was amused. a win-win.

on daddy's birthday. nora is actually asleep. daddy is being silly.

easter- chris totally got the hook-ups from the easter bunny this year. i did not. i think that's because the easter bunny knows i'm currently on chocolate restriction for the time being. but the easter bunny did get infant gas relief drops for nora, because she's been a really angry, gassy baby as of late. so that was good (writing about one's self in the thrid person is awkward. so is pretending to be the easter bunny. no one really puts that one in marriage and parenting books.) anyways, since i didn't go to church that day since i'm still sheltering my baby from large crowds of potentially sick people, the highlight of my easter sunday was spending the whole afternoon and easter dinner with my family. unfortunately, chris had to work that day/night so he couldn't come. but it was wonderful nonetheless.

six week mark- for me. technically, you're considered "recovered from childbirth" at six weeks... HA! "recovered from childbirth" as if you're back to your old, normal self again after that amount of time. not so. it just means that you're given the go ahead to do normal stuff again like running, and ab workouts, and chilling out in a jacuzzi. realistically though, my figure hasn't fully recovered from pregnancy- i've still got a pesky 10lbs hanging around that i'd rather not be there and am no where close to fitting back into my old size 4 jeans. at this point, i'm actually wondering if i'll ever fit back into my old clothes again... but what's life without a good challange, right? at least i can work out again- i've got my therapy back. ;-)

nora can smile- circa the middle of the month. like the type of smile where she looks at your face, and opens her mouth into a giant, toothless grin. CUTEST. THING. EVER! the past few days she's even cooed a bit. nothing beats hanging out with a happy baby (especially when you know what she's like when she's not so happy).

she's exactly a month old in this picture. this was a "she's smiling again, hurry up and get the picture" cell phone camera shot. awesome.

1 month old!!

our little nora is 1 month old!!! who knew that one month could be so long and so short at the same time? (yes, it can be both things at once. i don't care if it doesn't make sense.)

our little lady has grown up so much in a month... okay, maybe not so much "up" as she's grown "out". out of her newbie clothes and diapers- by her 4 week check up she weighed in at 10lbs 7oz... that's a full 2 pounds of gain since she was born! she also grew about 2 inches in that amount of time as well... i guess that explains why baby-girl's two favorite things are chowing down and sleeping.

we've definitely learned a lot during our first month as parents. i've listed some of the more pertinent things below:

• a "blow out" does not only refer to having a tire-crisis on the freeway
• desitin has magical properties
• chocolate, as far as baby is concerned, is the devil.
• dairy, as far as baby is concerned, runs a close second to the devil.
• cranky baby > cranky mommy. therefore, cranky baby wins, and mommy has to forego milk and chocolate.
• babies create a LOT of waste output, and therefore use a TON of diapers. like, way way more than we EVER expected.
• cars were invented for the sole purpose of putting fussy babies to sleep.
• according to many sources, babies are only newborns for 28 days (and that's just about how long they fit into newborn sized clothes and diapers).
• 4 hours of sleep in a row is a rare, amazing occurance.
• having bloodshot eyes and being incoherant is not necessarily an indication that one is under the influence of an illegal substance. it could also just possibly be a sign of a very sleep deprived new mother.
• spit up is non-discriminatory. it does not care if you're wearing silk or cotton, or if it's headed for your hair or your lap. it is coming up anyway.

as demanding as taking care of a new little baby is, nothing beats the payoff of watching her grow and learn. :) we're just starting to get smiles out of her. seeing one of those grins is worth all those sleepless nights and hours of fussing. :)

newborn nora

1 month old nora. complete with essence of squirm (hence the blurry left arm).

notice the diapers are the same size in both pictures- you can see how much she's grown! :)

vacation?

so i'm not going to do a "march" review because most of it would be a lot of "noel goes to the doctor again for a progress check" and "chris wants a vacation from work still" and "noel walked around a lot," and none of that stuff is very interesting. since we all know when the baby was born, i'm just going to sum up the last week of march, because that's when the interesting stuff happened.

so the couple days following nora's birthday, both of us were in the hospital. i wanted to go home THE DAY after she was born, but instead i was detained for 2 days, because my little girl couldn't figure out how to eat (you'd think that was innate, right? apparently NOT, and that's why lactation consultants have jobs). my doctor wanted to make sure that my baby wasn't going to starve to death when she got home, and so i stayed the extra day even though i SO did not want to. i didn't sleep very much at the hospital- maybe a grand total of 2 hours the whole time i was there- and by the time i was discharged i was so sleep-deprived i was delerious. chris was ok though, because he went home at night. as jealous as i was of his nightly reprieve, it made no sense to have both of us strung out to our wit's end when that was only requisite of one of us. and so, when i got home i passed out for a few hours while chris took care of the baby.

the following few days were a blur for me because i was still so low on sleep. i was so so happy to have chris with me at home- he did a good job of dealing with his wreck of a wife for that time. it was a week of learning for all of us: nora was still learning how to feed, chris was learning how to change diapers, and i was learning how to relax with an infant in the house, which is apparently something that i generally fail at (it's a lot harder to do than one would think, for reals).

chris's goal for his vacation was for us to successfully watch all of the lord of the ring's trilogy, from start to finish. he'd been planning on that for months. therefore, every night from around 9 to 11 we sat in front of the TV while nora slept right next to us. funny thing about those movies- the ring wraiths sound just like nora. once she woke up during a scene with screeching nazgul, and i didn't recognize that my own daughter was screeching along with them until after the scene changed (yes, our daughter is a loud screamer. the nurses at the hospital said she had "personality"). in any case, chris's goal was met, and we now have that epic series freshly emblazoned into the forefront of our memories.

by the end of chris's 9 day vacation he was ready to return to work. chris's coworkers had prompted him to take a full 2 to 3 weeks of vacation with the baby, but i know my husband better than to think that he would remain sane without working for that long. therefore, i urged him to take a shorter amount of time off, although i would have loved to have him at home longer. i suppose taking off from work to take care of a newborn isn't really a vacation at all. chris jokingly said: "man, i'm going to have to go back to work in order to get a vacation from this baby!" and so we affectionately refer to nora as our "new boss". which is actually pretty accurate, all things considered.

boss lady. 6 days into it.

also: this was taken in the middle of the night, because what better of a time to be completely wide awake?

birth story!

Nora Eve Staples arrived on march 19th, 2011 at exactly 1:30pm- all whopping 8lbs 6 oz and 20 inches of her (i thought it started to feel overcrowded in there). for those of you who are interested, here is her birthday post!

----

the week of my due date was the first week i had off from work. although we expected the baby to be pretty late (said my practitioner of first-time moms), i walked myself all around the town of alpine with the hopes that doing so would initiate labor a little sooner than really late. chris was getting restless and was counting on me (and the baby) to give him a vacation from work. i was getting restless and wanted the pregnancy to be overwith already.

on march 19th, around 4:15ish am, my water broke (talk about a rather abrupt, bizarre thing to wake to). i wish i could say i woke chris up with some witty aphorism about childbirth, but instead i just ended up nudging him awake and saying "hey my water just broke," to which he was like "what??? whoa! well lets go!" i told him that he should probably eat breakfast while i hopped in the shower, because i had this ridiculous idea that i was going to get all prettied up for the hospital. by the time i got out of the shower i had changed my mind.

labor is a weird event. i suppose in retrospect i hardly knew what to expect, although i had asked a million people about it. chris felt like he was somewhat prepared for the event, since he had some specialized EMT training on the subject- from which he felt "confident that he would be able to remain rational and emotionally stable throughout the entire process"- but still, he had never actually been present as a witness to a live birth. my personal goal was to be able to have as drugless a labor as possible. i figured if women throughout the centuries could have unmedicated births, then so could i. i wanted to tough it out as much as possible. i wanted to experience labor and childbirth in all of it's infamous, respected glory.

by the time i checked into triage i was in active labor and was making rapid progress. i knew that there was supposed to be pain associated with labor contractions; however, i had NO idea that active labor made women puke their guts out and convulse continuously. poor chris stood there for about five hours straight holding my puke bin (and my hair out of it) while i threw up; holding my hand while i breathed through contractions; and rubbing my back while i shook continuously between them. he'd say positive, reaffirming statements while i tried mightily to be as stoic as possible- which gets pretty challanging when whimpering, gasping and writhing around in pain seems FAR more appropriate for the situation (and we all know that doesn't help anybody). at some point, when the inner voice that was telling me to remain in control bailed out and started wanting me to cry for help, i decided to be honest.
"you're doing good honey," chris said to me.
"no," i finally broke down and cried softly, "no i'm not. this really doesn't feel very good... and i'm not handling it well. i'm sorry."
the labor nurse, who had overheard me, chuckled and said to "trust her" that i was "doing much better than most"... to which i told her that although she was very sweet, she was mistaken, and that i really wasn't doing well at all. i asked her if she honestly thought i could do it without medication- she said if i really wanted to do it, then she thought i had it in me. at that point i promptly turned to chris and asked him if he'd judge me if i got an epidural.

so fifteen minutes later my anesthesiologist walks in and starts prepping for the epidural. now, i tend to have an irrational fear of things going horribly wrong in conjunction with things being stuck into my spinal column, even though millions of people get epidurals all the time with no ill effects. it was definitely an exercise of "let the professional who knows what he's doing do his job and don't be a crazy paranoid about it" with the incentive that if i could at least do that, all the pain would go away and i could finally chill out for a bit. so i hunched over, squeezed my eyes shut, clenched chris's hand as hard as i could, and wiggled my toes furiously while the pro did his thing. while all this was happening, i overheard the nurse say "woah... woah! dad, are you ok?!" - and although he was still managing to hold my hand, chris had slumped down in a chair by my bed with his head between his knees. apparently the sight of the giant needle in my spine had made him slightly woozy.

a cup of orange juice for chris, and an epidural plus IV anti-nausea meds for me (i was STILL puking, even after the anesthesia), and the atmosphere of the delivery suite calmed way down. we felt MUCH better (hooray for medicine!). i had made it to 7cm prior to my epidural, and getting that far tired me out. all the stress of the morning had drained chris as well (chris: "if it was anybody else going through this i'd be fine watching it. but it's so so hard for me to watch someone i love and care about go through so much without being anxious"). it was so nice to have a couple hours of rest before having to push that baby out.

pushing the baby out = much better than labor without pain medication, even though my epidural wore off in the middle of it so i got to feel all the good stuff. was it strenuous? yes. was it an epic ordeal to go through? absolutely. i don't know if i'd have had the energy left to do it if i hadn't have gotten some reprieve from the epidural. pushing took us about an hour, and since the nurse taught chris how to coach my pushing, he ended up having something to do during the whole time instead of standing by and watching helplessly (those ladies are so smart!).

i will never forget the moment our daughter was born. it's so surreal, looking down and seeing a whole baby exiting your body. she began wailing immediately as they put her on my belly- the first thing i saw on her new little purple body were the dimples in her elbows (me: "holy cow you're a fat little baby!). the second thing i noticed was that i had just given birth to what looked like a clone of chris, except a girl. "she looks like you!" i panted to my tearful husband as he followed her over to the baby table. not long afterwards i had her in my arms- bundled up like a little burrito and howling like a champ.

all in all, we were in labor for about 8 hours. i have definitely gained a new respect for mothers everywhere, and an appreciation for appropriately administered pain medication*. the labor and delivery staff at grossmont hospital are amazing, and i am grateful for the companionship of my wonderful husband, who never left my side the whole time i was there. now we are no longer just a couple, but a family of three. this is the beginning of the rest of our lives!

-pictures courtesy of great-granddad's cell phone camera (who waited in the hall while his great-grandbaby was being born)... because during and after the whole ordeal i could have cared less to bring mine out.

*the anesthesiologist came back in to see how i was doing about an hour after he gave me the epidural. "you sir," i said, "are my HERO." and i thanked him profusely.

gone with the wind.

chris and i were recently looking through old pictures. we came across these... (here, i'll just post one, and we'll call this picture #A)

which were taken about two months before we got married. chris's FIRST comment on them? "woahhhhh! look how skinny you used to be honey!! you've gotten so BIG now..." (me: *groan* & facepalm)

here we are now (we'll call this picture #B):

nine months pregnant and due any day. yes, i am BIG. i feel big. to illustrate exactly how this feels, it would be appropriate to have a tuba playing in the background while i walk waddle around, or at least a foghorn sounding. this sharply contrasts with the way i felt back in picture #A- insert flutes and/or chirping birds. shoot, let's also throw in some prancing deer for good measure.
 
how does chris feel in BOTH pictures #A and #B? heavy-metal music plus roaring tiger. he's a rockstar from mars. he's the same yesterday, today, and forever. yay for him. 
 
of course, after my non-verbal reaction to chris's commentary concerning the pictures from whence #A came  (remember the *groan* & facepalm?), he quickly assured me, "oh, honey. it's all right! you'll get back into shape in no time," which was sweet of him to say (his internal "mitigate potentially volatile situation" alert system must have been going off). however, the prospect of snapping right back into my old jeans again seems rather impossible at this precise moment. this brings to mind a scene from an old, classic movie:

 

scarlett: "twenty inches?!... you simply HAVE to make it eighteen and a half again mammy!"

mammy: "you done had a baby, miss scarlett, and you aint never gonna be no eighteen and a half inches again. never. and there ain't nothin' to do about it."

(Gone With The Wind, anybody?)

oh scarlett. i feel for you. at least mammy's being honest.



side note: i always wondered why all my older female relatives would laugh at this scene when we'd watch it at family get-togethers. perhaps, once you get over it, the irony is amusing? probably. i'll have to see.



true story. kinda sweet story. plus, a magazine review.

- which means if you've got an extremely low sap-tolerance threshold, you should probably click away from the post (although it's not too bad). we're not a sap-happy couple, generally speaking. i swear.

first of all, i am going to mention that being very heavy with child during the final month of pregnancy can leave a girl looking and feeling like she'll never look or feel normal again. this being said, one can also assume that it can leave a pregnant girl's husband wondering if his wife will ever stop moaning about how she'll never look or feel normal again- no matter how many times he kindly reassures her that she'll be fine and eventually get her groove back.

secondly, i am also going to mention that we do NOT have a subscription to sports illustrated at our house; however, i happened to pick up the swimsuit edition at work the other day just to see what all the hype was about* (some magazines that get sent to our office are not allowed out in the waiting room for propriety's sake. that particular issue is one of them).

so i get home after a long day, take a hot bath, wrap up in a giant towel, lay in bed, and proceed to peruse this magazine that i had just grabbed from the office. somewhere in the middle of the issue i must have fallen asleep, because i woke up to christopher entering the room, still in his uniform from work.
"hey honey!" he said to me. "whatchu doin? sleepin?"
passing by the bed towards the adjacent bathroom he glanced at the open magazine by my head and started to laugh. "whatchu readin there?"
"the sports illustrated swimsuit edition that i jacked from my work," i answered, suddenly realizing how silly my situation must look.
continuing to laugh he asked "and why would you be doing that?"
"oh, you know," i sighed, "to see what all the hype is about. seeing what 'hot women' are looking like these days so i'm not left out of the loop, being pregnant and all."
christopher smiled at me and said, "well if you wanted to see a hot woman all you had to do was look in the mirror."
i burst into laughter while he proceeded to the bathroom to wash his hands.
"oh please," i called after him, "i am a giant pregnant woman, lying here like a beached whale on the bed. even i know there is nothing 'hot' about that."
returning from the bathroom, chris bent down and kissed my forehead. "well i think you're pretty to look at," he said. "now come on. let's go get some dinner."

awww, now is that not chicken soup for the giant preggo lady's soul or what? mostly because i know he was really just being super-nice at that particular moment, for my sake. his usual "oh don't worry honey, i'm sure you'll get back into shape in no time" doesn't quite have that same effect. :)

*my review of the magazine: while it was somewhat less tasteful than a victoria's secret catalogue (which was expected- i get that sports illustrated is a man's magazine, not a lady's catalogue), i was pleasantly surprised to see that the models in the SI swimsuit edition had far more realistic figures than the VS models (it's like they actually eat real food in addition to working out- woah!). i don't think i even saw one jutting hip-bone in the entire issue. kind of refreshing, actually. i think i might just change my post-partum figure-standards from victoria's secret model to the seemingly more-attainable silhouette of a sports illustrated model (though exactly how attainable after having a kid remains to be seen).

the month of ♥

our wedding anniversary AND valentine's day in 1 month?! according to chris that's almost (but not quite) as stressful as my birthday and christmas being in the same month. not to worry though- he made it through the celebrations unscathed and now has another year's reprieve before having to deal with the duo again.

"romance"... a word with such an ambiguous, subjective meaning. i looked it up on the internet and i swear the most common definition i came across was "a love affair". i was like- "well, jeez. that sounds fairly horrific to have go on during a marriage. let's try to find a different definition." and then of course, according to chris "romance" is an arbitrary term without any real definition- apparently people just pretend to know what it is and act accordingly. but, no matter what definition we're going for here, i'm just going to skip all pretenses and submit my opinion that it is a tad difficult to feel romantic in any sense of the word when one is very ripe with child. although i'm sure i could muster up enough energy to be coy and flirtacious if i really had to (and by that i mean really really had to), this year it felt much more appropriate to be straightforward and sincere. lucky for me, chris is all about straighforward sincerity (i love that man so much).

so on february 2nd we celebrated our first year wedding anniversary. chris was a darling and took me out to a trendy little restaurant that we frequented often back when we were first dating. not only was it SO nice to have a break from making & cleaning up after dinner (i had worked very long hours that day), it was also nice to reminisce about our first year together as marrieds in the place where we started out years ago. of course, all of this happened while i indulged in a giant bistro-burger and garlic fries... something i'd have NEVER done back when we were dating- you know, back when i had a dainty appetite and didn't feel like smelling of garlic the whole night (oh, how pregnancy changes things).
-oh yeah. and chris had a "bistro-pizza". because, you know, chris loses his super-powers if he doesn't eat pizza at least once a week.

for the celebration of our 3rd valentine's day together, we had an awesome date lined up at grossmont hospital's women's center for a new parent tour. we were the only ones in the group that evening (i guess people don't want to go to the hospital on valentine's day? how strange...), so it ended up being a more intimate experience than i anticipated, which was really nice. it was such a relief to be able to pre-register and take a dry-run of where we're supposed to go on the big day (preparing tends to calm a lot of my anxieties), and we were both impressed by the facility and the staff. as chris and i walked back out to our car he reached his arm around me and began planning our "for real" visit with tender excitement. it touched my heart to hear him. his presence with me at that moment was the sweetest valentine's gift i've ever been given.
-oh yeah. and afterwards we went to the souplantation. because i wanted to. ;)

so anyhow. back to "romance". i never found a conclusive definition. apparently, according to the internet, the general idea is that romance is some sort of ambient sensation that is relatively short-lived. meh. if that's the case, who needs romance anyways? i say a healthy base of good old-fashioned love is much more important. i promise that googling "love" renders much better results than googling "romance". love'll put up with essence of garlic-fries and voluntary hospital trips any old day. beat that romance!

taken 02/13/2011- the day before valentine's day.

january- 2011

time for new years resolutions... right? chris and i had a discussion new years day that went like this-

me: so, i think my new years resolution for this year will be... get back into shape. but procrastinate until march. i have a feeling like i might just spontaneously drop around seven or eight pounds in the middle of march for some reason. whaddaya think?

chris: what are you talking about? what the heck is a "new years resolution"?*

mmhm. real conversation. welcome 2011!

---

the recurrent theme for this month has been variations on "noel's brain doesn't work anymore"... never thought it would happen to me. but it has. and it has been rather pathetic. while i am getting worse and worse at what i am normally good at, chris is just functioning along just as well as he usually does. his new thing now is trying to see if HE can gain more weight. pah! gain weight. i got his weight gain right here:

(this was actually taken in february. i was a tad smaller back in january.)

 

while i am sporting a belly, HE is still flaunting these-

- which is SO fair, right? doesn't look like he's having a baby whatsoever.

related story:

so back last april while chris was gone to west virginia i attempted to aqcuire a tan via sun-bathing at our apartment pool area. to document progress, i took pictures of myself- or whatever i could get of myself with my cell phone camera, which ended up being the midsection between the top and bottom of my sparkly, sequined black bathingsuit. i had forgotten that i had taken these until i searched my phone earlier this month and found them. i was pretty overjoyed that they were still there- i've got a pre-pregnancy photo of my abs like they never will be, ever again!!! how priceless is that??
after finding this image on my phone, i handed it to chris and asked, "hey. whose body is that?" he raised his eyebrows, handed the phone back to me very cautiously and answered, "i don't know, but i don't recognize it."
awww. "you mean you don't remember? that's my body before i got all pregnant by you."
snatching the phone back from me he said "that's you? woah............ when did you take this?"
"last april"
"woahhhh..... it's like... your stomach doesn't even poke out it actually caves in.... yeah, you definitely don't look like that anymore. you'd better save this so our kids will know what you used to look like."

haaaaaa. i love my husband- he's so honest. i told him not to worry. i aint never gettin' rid of that photo ever. but i'm not going to post it either- my mother would die if i posted a picture of my scantily clad torso on the internet (she thinks this blog and facebook are bad enough).

anyhow, enough about stories. back to new year's resolutions.
after defining the term to chris, i was informed that he "doesn't believe in those."
"there are no 'new years resolutions' in this house," he declared, "only lifetime resolutions. we don't set ourselves up for failure. you want to make a change, then do it. no waiting around until next year to start."
"oh...." i said, taken slightly aback. chris generally isn't prone to saying such bossy statements (that's usually a noel thing), yet his words were very valid, and made quite a bit of sense to my mind, even in it's pregnancy-ravaged state.
"well... jeez.... then how about... waiting until after the baby is born to get back into shape?" i asked.
chris looked at me, an amused grin spreading across his face.
"i will allow that," he said, authoritatively.
i thanked him for his benevolent consideration.
and then he asked me to make him some cookies. which i readily did for him. hey, gotta figure out some way to fatten that boy up a bit... so i don't look so bad. ;) just assisting him in his "lifetime resolution" to gain more weight. gotta be supportive. :)

*chris maintains that he actually really knew what a new years resolution was. he said he just didn't understand the context in which i was using the term at that moment. so we're all clear here.

coming up shortly...

arright. so i realize that things are happening a little slowly on this blog. this may be attributed to the fact that the author of this blog has been reduced to moving along at a glacial pace while still attempting to keep up with a lightning-speed life and ridiculously agile husband. needless to say, i'm laggin. BUT, it's all good. january 2011 post should be poppin up any day now. i just need to take a couple pictures.

for those of you wondering, this squirmy little babe inside of me is due to enter the world sometime around the 17th of march (that's next month! oh man...). quarters are becoming quite cramped up here in the mama hotel- i've got surprisingly strong little feets jabbin at my ribs, and what i'm sure is a cute little noggin consistently head-butting my bladder. it is my hope that our little fetus decides to be punctual. although i have got to say, taking into account the "discomforts" of the 3rd trimester- the leg cramps, the not-sleeping at night, the acid refluxing (yes, more oblations to the porcelain throne from this one), the duck-waddling, the inability to bend at the waist or breathe while laying down, the fatigue- these things are NOTHING compared to the agonizing morning sickness that haunted me the entirety of my 1st trimester, and half of my 2nd. so i'm good with this trimester. and as far as i'm concerned, it's the best part of pregnancy.

so anyhow. stay tuned. next post will be up shortly.

a year in our life. the 2010 review.

as if every post on this blog wasn't a monthly review anyways. but it's fun to put it all back into perspective. a lot of life-changing things happened in our lives this past year.

january: i was not so blonde this month. also, chris and i had some serious discussions about how waiting too long to get married when you're striving to live a chaste lifestyle is kind of a bad idea. and so we aimed to solve the problem by planning on getting married sooner rather than later.

jan 2010- at torrey pines

february: why wait any longer? we eloped. since we couldn't get married in the temple (chris was still a new member), i wanted to do it without the pomp and grandeur. we got married because we wanted to be together, and we didn't need a huge party to do it. the simplicity of that was- and still is- beautiful to me.

feb 2010- at the county clerk's office

march: chris thought this was a good month to a) severely injure his ankle during church basketball and b) get a 3 week long cold. therefore, it comes as no surprise that he was not a happy camper for the entirety of this time.

march 2010- chris has a hurt ankle

april: chris goes to west virginia for 3 weeks for a specialized training course. while he is there he celebrates his birthday alone in his hotel room amid the throws of food poisoning. poor guy. that was one of the most pathetic phone calls i've ever gotten. while he was gone i managed to rack up a tiny little tan and turn back into a blonde. he was quite impressed when he returned home (i was just impressed that i could actually tan, haha! obviously it didn't stick around for too long, as i'm not a sun worshipper).

may: road trip to ma & pa staples in arizona!! chris's parentals were so kind as to throw us a little wedding party, and we had a grand ol time. well, except for the driving part. chris does not do long car-rides very well. later on this month i aced my finals (hooray for stress relief!). commence summer vacation!!

may 2010- in prescott, arizona

june: we did a lot of working ourselves ragged this month between our respective occupations and obligations- which, we'd found, kind of sucks the life out of thriving relationships. therefore, we made it a point to make this the most epic date month EVER. fun times!

june 2010- at the del mar fair

july: start out the month with a mild bout of what i think is the stomach flu... and then find out that holy cow i'm pregnant. woah! (yeah, i guess that's what happens after having the most epic date-month ever. shoulda seen it coming). promptly, chris gets sent to arizona for the next 6 weeks when i start to feel really sick. divine intervention probably.

july 2010- at the san diego zoo (guess who's pregnant?)

august: chris is still in arizona. i visit him for a weekend and am sick the whole time. this month was THE WORST for my morning sickness- i dropped several pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight (dehydration = ouch). it was one of the most physically arduous things i have ever endured. i also had an ultrasound this month- the little fetus looked like a gummi bear with a tiny flickering heart in the center. my thoughts: "well. at least i'm sick for something." oh and PS: my braces came off! hooray for no longer looking underage!

september: chris came home from arizona! yaaaay! his plan at the beginning was to stay there for an additional 6 weeks on top of what he had already gone for, but ultimately decided that the first 45 days was quite enough for him. also this month- i'm still sick. pertinent thoughts: "why did i sign up for a morning class???" while running through grossmont to the ladies room to puke.

october: STILL sick to the very end of the month and pretty tired of it. me to chris: "seriously?! the books said this would go away like, last month!" chris was pretty tired of it too- i was keeping him up all night long with my trips to the sick closet. we hid from halloween because we were so exhausted.

oct 2010- at the la mesa oktoberfest

november: hey... i'm starting to feel better! only intermittent nausea throughout the day and that's it- thank goodness!  just in time to move to an awesome new apartment! mid term ultrasound at the beginning of the month also, wherein we find that we're having a healthy girl. kind of amazing how much they grow in a few months (although those months felt like forever, especially being sick the whole time). also of note: we got a washer and dryer this month... heaven! no more laudromats for me.

nov 2010- thanksgiving

december: hello holidays and birthdays... well, my birthday. :) the combo kind of stresses chris out, but he managed to do good this year. we were able to take part in a lot of festivities this season despite chris's crazy work schedule. that's all anyone can really ask for- is the holidays with their loved one. :)

dec 2010- christmas eve

there we have it! 2010 in a nutshell. we're now looking forward to 2011 with great anticipation- we've got a few things in the works that could be potentially promising. :) happy new year everyone!