Baby David

I can't believe how EXHAUSTING these past 3 days have been since we've been home from the hospital. I knew being a mom to a newborn was going to be exhausting, but not to this extent. I am sleep deprived so please forgive any sentences that are not coherent or don't make sense.

I had a fairly easy delivery and feel really lucky that I wasn't in labor for hours like so many people are. Thursday morning (5/14) I went to my weekly ultrasound with the perinatologist and was told that the doctor wanted to take our baby the next day (5/15) because of possible low birth weight and my amniotic fluid levels were still low. I had a feeling they'd take him early but give me a little more notice than just one day. I started panicking because we weren't ready for him to be born quite yet and had so many things we still needed to do. I had to go back to the hospital that evening (Thursday) for a gel that softens my cervix but then was told to go home and come back on Friday morning at 7am for the Pitocin and to be induced.

The minute I walked out of the hospital that evening I knew changes were taking place in my body and I could barely walk. Apparently "the gel" kicked right in and I started having very small contractions. That evening about 1:30am my water broke and Dan and I headed off to the hospital at 3:30 to have this baby to start an adventure we never could dream about.

The doctors started the Pitocin at 6:00am and I had my epidural an hour later. That is some good stuff! The nurse checked to see if I had dilated around 8am and I was only at 1cm so they thought it would be an all day process. At 9:30am the nurse checked me again and I was only at a 2cm, confirming that I would be in labor for quite some time and they told me to relax and try to get some rest. One hour later I insisted they check me again because I started to feel a lot of pressure "down there" - (sorry to be so explicit). They told me that was normal but I once again demanded that something wasn't right and I couldn't handle the feeling I was dealing with all day long. The nurse gave in and did a check just to appease me, and by the look on her face I knew that I wasn't going crazy and the pressure I was feeling wasn't normal for a 2 cm dilation. She looked up and said, "Ummm, you've dilated to 9cm, let me go get the doctor". In ONE hour I had gone from 2cm to 9cm, and in 5 minutes was at 10 cm and was ready for this baby to come.

I immediately called my sister and told her to get to the hospital so she could take pictures and be there when David was born. She apparently drove like a bat out of hell a 30 minute drive only took her 15 minutes and the minute she walked in the room the doctor was ready to deliver me. I only pushed for 20 minutes which I feel so lucky about. I've heard horror stories of women pushing for hours and the thought of that scared the bajeepers out of me.

It was an amazing experience and I'm so glad everything went well and that our baby David joined our family safe and sound. Dan and I can't get enough of him! All I want to do is hold and kiss him and I haven't gotten anything done around the house because of that. I don't care though, I am taking advantage of this precious time I have with my new son and don't care if he gets too spoiled at this point!

Here are some pictures of his first 5 days of his life.

Heading to the hospital
38 weeks pregnant

Dad calling with the good news

6lbs 2 oz.
20.5 inches long
I love this picture- the minute he was placed on the scale he grabbed on to the side and would not let go. It looked like he was riding a toboggan.

Proud Papa

Aunt Noelle

I'm afraid I'm going to kiss his face off!

Heading home from the hospital. He was so tiny when he was born that the new born clothes I bought him didn't fit him. I had to go buy some preemie clothes to get us by for the next week or so. Hopefully he'll gain some weight so he can fit into the gajillion of fun baby clothes I have for him.

Our little burrito (I'm still trying to get down the swaddling technique)

First bath

Going on a walk with cousin Cameron

5 day check up at the doctor. He's gaining weight like a good little boy, which relieves me and makes me feel like I'm doing something right - considering the trouble I'm having breast feeding him.

He's Finally Here

David Daniel was born yesterday at 12:06pm weighing 6 lbs. 2 oz, 20.5 inches long. The labor and delivery went smoothly and we're all happy and healthy. I'll post more when I get home from the hospital but wanted all my readers to know our little guy is finally here! We're so happy to have him in our family!

3 1/2 weeks left....

And I'm feeling (and look) as if I could burst any day now!

gifts, gifts, and more gifts...

Two friends from my church threw me a baby shower a few weeks ago and I'm just getting around to posting the pictures. What a great time I had! I had so many supportive friends that showed up and showered me with gifts....thanks everybody, your formal thank you cards are on their way.

Opening the presents made it more real for me that I'm having a baby. I can't wait to dress him in the cute outfits I received...he's going to be the most stylish baby on the block!

Opening the presents took forever!
I apologize to my friends who I didn't get a chance to talk to.

Jen & Amy are two of my closest friends. I met them when I first moved to DC 6 years ago and have stayed close with them ever since. I just wish I got to see them more!

All my loot! It took me a week to finally get it all organized and put away.
Pile 'o baby clothes.
I'm still getting around to washing them and hanging them all up.

one word....

FRIGHTENING!

My coworkers are having a baby shower for me and made this
picture for the invitation. I had to post it because I thought you'd get a kick out of it.

He's a Cutie!

We had another ultrasound this morning but this time it was in 3D. Baby boy behaved very well today and the sonographer was actually able to get some decent pics of the little guy (considering last time he wouldn't show his face). It was a really great moment to be in there and see him move around, suck his thumb and umbilical cord, and smile. According to the sonographer, "he's got a very defined jaw line and a beautiful nose". Yaaay, hopefully he's cute!

I love this one! His legs are crossed and his right hand is grabbing his toes!

Look at those lips!

Pregnant Sisters

My sister is going to kill me for posting a picture of her on my blog the day
before she is going in to have her baby.

Noelle is pregnant with her 2nd child and it has been so fun to be pregnant together. She has been a life saver when I've had questions about pregnancy in general, car seats, diaper bags, etc, and I appreciate her advice she has given to me.

I had somebody at church yesterday ask me when I was due. I told her not until May and she said, "oh honey, your baby is not going to wait until May to get here. You are HUGE". I wanted to slap her in the face. Why do some people feel it is their place to make me feel like a beached whale...I already feel that way and don't need some stranger reiterating the fact.

I spent my Valentine's day

Making this...........


My friend's daughter is having her birthday party today and asked me to make the cake. She loves shoes and thought I'd make a sugar paste shoe for the top. I'm happy with the way it turned out, considering it was my first try. Thanks to my husband for giving up his Valentine's day to help me roll out all the fondant balls at the bottom. (He actually jumped at the chance to help me because he knew it was either that or clean the bathrooms...guess those will have to wait). What a romantic day we had! :)

We did treat ourselves to a nice romantic dinner at 5 Guys (a hamburger joint in the food court of the mall) and saw the movie "Taken" with some friends. See what I mean when I say we had a romantic day!!

Baby Bump

My mom has been dying to see pictures of my baby bump. She lives across the country and hasn't been able to see the progression, so I took a few pictures of my tummy so I could share them with her. I wasn't going to post any pictures of my pregnant belly on my blog, because, well...it's just not my style! Dan went ahead and sent this picture to the world last night, so I figured I'd post it on my blog so my friends who want to see it can.

I'm starting to get to that stage where I'm feeling uncomfortable and it takes extra effort to tie my shoes, roll over in bed, and basically do anything I used to do before. I can't complain though, we waited a long time for this little guy and I promised God that if I was able to get pregnant I'd deal with the woe's of pregnancy with a smile. Thank goodness I didn't get sick or have any awful symptoms during my 1st trimester or I may have had to go back on my promise with God.

So, here you have it...me in my full pregnant glory!

I think this shirt accentuates my bigness...
I look like I'm ready to pop and I still have a few more months.

Decisions, decisions...

I'm not good with decisions. Never have been, never will be! I get severe anxiety when I walk into an ice-cream store and have to choose which flavor of ice-cream to buy. I break out in a sweat when I'm at a fancy restaurant and have to decide on a menu item. I don't even want to begin explaining the anxiety I felt as I was dating my husband and had to decide if I wanted to get married or not. (Thank goodness I had dear friends and family to help me decide - I (they) made the right decision)!!

So, can you understand the anxiety I am feeling as I'm trying to buy baby paraphernalia? I have to make informed decisions on any purchase, so I read up on ratings and reviews before I buy anything. I stressed & stewed for 3 weeks over which stroller & car seat to buy, and it took Dan finally hitting the "submit" button for me before I could make my final decision. Clothes and the little things are fun to buy, but it's the big things that just about do me in. Why? Why do I take the fun out of something that could be so enjoyable?

This leads me to a question I need help with. I should just be able to go to Babies R Us or TJ Maxx and pick out a 'cute' diaper bag, but NO. It's me you're talking about! I want the most practical diaper bag out there, one that will fit my every need. This is where I need your help. Before I make such a "huge" decision (again, you're talking about me here), will you moms out there please let me know what you did or didn't like in a diaper bag? What was most important to you and what could you have gone without? You may think I'm crazy for posting something so trivial and dumb as a diaper bag, but it's truly causing me more stress than needed. And Carrie, hold your smart @$#* comments! :)

I may be exaggerating a little on the stress a diaper bag is causing me (I wasn't lying about the stroller & car seat), but would truly love to hear your input before I make the biggest decision of my life. (okay, kidding there as well).

Thanks all!

Christmas Holiday Recap

Here's what I did over the holiday....

NOTHING

Maybe that's exaggerating a little, but it's close enough to the truth. Besides sitting on my butt for 2 weeks, here is really what I did:

• Saw lots of movies

• Ate like a pig

• Watched all 3 seasons of 30 Rock

• Went to the mall almost everyday (didn't buy anything, just went to pass time. I felt like I was in junior high again).

• Slept in until 10am (or later) everyday

So, how's that for productive?

The results are in....

There's no mistaking that the creature inside of me is a BOY!!!

We had our ultrasound this morning and all is well. What a relief it is to know that everything is on track and I can now start buying some clothes for our little guy. Now comes the fun part of trying to decide on some names we both like. This will be a challenge as Dan is so picky!

My ever growing belly

Because my family won't get to be here with me as I experience pregnancy, I thought I'd keep them updated with pictures of my ever growing belly. I swore that I'd never be "that woman" who posts pictures of her stomach every month, but I can't resist (thanks to the 100 requests I've had from friends and family who live out of state).

Here I am at 18 weeks!


I'm starting to get the belly bump and can't wait until it is perfectly round so people have no question I'm really pregnant and not just getting an extreme pot gut. A coworker of mine that hadn't seen me in months saw me the other day and asked me if I was pregnant. I had my winter coat covering my stomach so there was no way she'd be able to tell. When I asked her how she knew she said, "oh, you're carrying it all in your face". GREAT! That just made me feel awesome!

We find out what we're having next Monday (the 29th), so stay tuned!

is this really happening?

Today I'm wearing my first pair of official maternity pants. I got tired of cutting the circulation off around my belly with my regular pants, so I figured it was time to bite the bullet and buy some real maternity clothes. I can't believe the time has come.....

Maternity clothes = frumpy (in my personal opinion)

European Vacation-2008

This year for Thanksgiving Dan and I decided to take one last trip before our baby comes in May. My parents have a timeshare in Austria so we set up our home base in Salzburg, then took trips to Prague, Budapest, and Germany. Europe is so beautiful and everything is so old. The part about Europe that shocked me the most was that you have to pay to use the toilets. Are you kidding me? Normally it wouldn't have been such a big deal, but for a pregnant woman who has to use the bathroom every 20 minutes, it really added up. I felt like I spent more on toilet use than I did on souvenirs or anything else.

So, we got into Munich, Germany on Saturday, only to find that American Airlines had lost one of our bags! So, we had to wait around the airport for a few hours until they could send it in on the next flight. In the meantime, we picked up our rental car and figured out how to program our navigation unit. By the time we had it all figured out, our bag arrived, and we jumped on the road headed to Austria. And when I say "jumped on the road," I really mean it! We took the German Autobahn (for those of you who don't know, that's a freeway with no speed limits!) going as fast as our little Kia Sportage could take us (about 110mph - and we were being passed by BMWs like we were standing still!!) for an hour or so before the weather took over.

We went from driving about 110mph to 50mph as we hit a massive snowstorm (and keep at mind, at this point we had been awake for about 30 hours) which followed us all the way into Austria. But it got worse. The place we were staying was located in the Alps, which meant an additional 2 hour, grueling drive up the mountain in increasing whiteout conditions. It was awful. Oh, and did I mention we hadn't eaten in 15 hours? Yeah. Fun.


Well, after we finally made it to our little chalet in the mountains, we grabbed dinner in the hotel restaurant and hit the sack. After sleeping for 10 hours, we woke to one of the most beautiful scenes we've ever seen. The hotel was on a frozen lake in a valley with mountains all around. The sides of the foothills leading to the lake were dotted with snow covered cottages here and there. It was gorgeous. However, we couldn't stay to appreciate it for long, since we needed to get on the road to make the 5 hour drive to Prague!

Here are some pictures of a view from our balcony:

We arrived in Prague on Sunday around 3pm and headed straight to Old Town Square. The Old Town Square is one of the two main squares in the city centre. With its ancient buildings and magnificent churches, this is one of the most beautiful historical sights in Europe. The next morning we explored Prague then headed to Budapest. Here are some pictures taken while in Prague:

Old Town Square Astronomical Clock

In the middle of Old Town Square

A few views from the Charles Bridge

This is atop the Prague Castle, the view from there was amazing!




We loved this street, it was actually quite steep and we had to walk all the way
up it to reach the Prague Castle.

Golden Lane (tiny old houses that have been made into shops)

Typical Metro shot

The only thing I wanted to buy while in Europe was hand painted eggs from Prague. I remember seeing them years ago at my friend's house who had just returned from Prague and I swore one day I'd get me a bunch. We looked for hours to find them and when we did I went crazy!
Aren't they beautiful?

We left Prague around 4pm and arrived in Budapest, Hungary around 9pm. I LOVED Budapest, one of my favorite cities so far. Everything was so serene and peaceful and the fresh fallen snow made it more so I believe. Our hotel was in the castle district so we started off our morning walking around there.

Fisherman's Bastion is is one of the most popular spots of the Castle District

View of the city from Fisherman's Bastion

St. Stephen's Basilica is the largest church in Hungary

Dan in front of Parliament

Dan's stiff competition

"Gerbaud's" - the best hot chocolate joint in the world!

After Budapest we hit the road again and traveled back to our condo in Salzburg, Austria. By this time I was so sick of driving and was ready to stay put. We spent two days in Salzburg which was plenty of time to explore the city. My favorite part of Salzburg was The Sound of Music Tour. I have loved the Sound of Music since I was a little girl so this was a highlight of our trip. Dan was hesitant to do it at first as he had never seen the movie (I made him watch it before we left) and he ended up loving the movie as well as the tour. You can't go to Salzburg without taking the tour!

The gazebo where Liesel and her boyfriend sang "I am 16 going on 17". I wanted to go in and dance around the benches, but it's not open to public anymore thanks to an 82 year old woman. Several years ago she thought she was younger than she was and started dancing on the benches. She ended up falling and hurting herself. They have since closed it to the public.

The Do-Re-Mi steps in the Mirabella Gardens. This was as close as I could get as
they were blocked off due to the winter.
Does this fountain look familiar? Maria and the Von Trapp children danced and
sang around this horse fountain in Mirabella Gardens.


Leopoldskron - the backyard of this house was used in filming the Sound of Music.
This is the backyard for the Von Trapp family.

This is the lake where Maria and the children fell into the water.

Lake Mondsee - the opening scene of the movie

This yellow house is the front of the Von Trapp home. Maria got off the bus here and started singing, "I Have Confidence" while she danced down the pathway.

The church in Lake Mondsee where Maria & the Baron Von Trapp got married
(just in the film, in real life they got married somewhere else).

The inside of the church

City of Salzburg, Austria

On top of the Salzburg Fortress

Salzburg had some of the best Christmas markets around. We actually spent the
majority of the time shopping for family Christmas presents. Dan is such a trooper
for strolling through these markets with me for hours!

Hallstatt, Austria was another one of our favorite spots. It is a tiny, (I mean tiny) town right on the lake. It takes 10 minutes to walk from one of the town to the other end. We didn't stay there long (much to Dan's dismay) because I was starving and everything was closed, but we enjoyed the 15 minutes we did spend there.

This is the main road through the town.
See what I mean when I say "tiny?"

Friday morning we drove to Neuschwanstein Castle in Fussen, Germany. The castle is a 19th-century Bavarian Palace built by Ludwig II. The palace has appeared in several movies, and was the inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland and for the Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom.

The walk up to the castle was brutal, so I opted for a horse carriage to take me up.
I kind of forgot that I'm extremely allergic to horses, and was
miserable the rest of the day!

On the way back from the Neuschwanstein Castle, we stopped in a small town called Oberammeragu, Germany. It too was an adorable town and had I not been famished we would have stayed longer and shopped.

Speaking of food and being hungry, one of my favorite parts of the whole trip was the food we ate. We feasted on bratwurst, sauerkraut, Bavarian pretzels, hot chocolate, apple strudel, gingerbread, and crepes. Good thing we walked so much and I could burn off a few calories, or I would have come home a blimp!

This was our Thanksgiving dinner! Weiners & Saurkraut!

I'm so glad I was able to take this trip with my husband, heaven knows it may be our last big trip for a long time. Thanks to my parents who hooked us up with a condo in Austria!!