Aesop's Fables

The first thing we ever bought for Rosalie were books. In July, we were at Barnes & Noble and Mary picked out Chickey Chickey Chook Chook and I picked out Aesop's Fables and Grimm's Fairy Tales (2 for 1 sale). Mary's eyes rolled. My arguement was that it doesn't matter what you read while they're in your arms, as long as you read (go ahead and gag yourself, Mary did).
Flash forward six months...
After reading her the story of The Fox and The Grapes, I set the book down to change Rosalie's diaper. Midway through, there was literally an explosion and the book was caught by the shrapnel.
And the moral of the story is thus: That which you intend to keep should not be put in harm's way.

Being a baby is soooooo tiring!

Milestones - Already???

Today was Rosalie's first bath! Of course it took twice as long as it will next time, but we wanted to enjoy it as much as we could. Of course, it exhausted her which gave us time to take care of a few things around the house. Before dinner, Mary got Rosalie ready for another nap (post feeding) - her first smile? Was she smiling at the song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star? Or was she smiling at how Mary forgot the words (she remembers more than I do)?
The Elizabeth Ministry at church is sending over meals (as are friends). I thought it would be awkward to accept food, but, on our schedule, anything that can make it a little easier is welcome!

Rock A Bye Baby

We came home from the hospital Sunday and everything has been a blur of feeding, diapers, and lack of sleep. I think we're starting to find our rhythm. The hardest time is at night. If babies sleep for 18 hours a day, Rosalie spends her 6 hours awake from midnight to 6am! It's not all bad. I quite enjoy rocking her to sleep while she lays on my chest. Last night, I fell asleep too.

Ah-Choo!

Meet The (Grand)Parents

It's A Girl!

"This Feels So Weird..."

Mary's had her epidural and now she's finally comfortable. But, her feet and legs tingle a little and she can't get over the feeling. "This feels so weird..."

On New Years Eve morning, Mary's labor began. Her contractions began at 3am. By 3pm, the contractions were consistant, but not close enough. Jamie and Dave and Janice and Tim came over to play some cards and celebrate the New Year. By 3am on January 1st, the contractions became painful. At 4, they were 6 minutes apart and lasted for a minute on average - close enough to go to the hospital!

At the hospital, we were told Mary was only 1.5 centimeters. Three to four hours of painful contractions later, they sent us home at 1.5cm with a pain pill to either stop labor or give Mary enough relief to sleep.

Every 7 minutes, we both woke up, Mary wailing in pain. It was as though the baby was about to just pop out! By 3pm, Mary had enough and we called our midwife - time to return to the hospital!

By 4pm, Mary was 4cm. A little discouraging - all that pain for such little progress. They hooked up an IV, gave her an epidural, and they sent for our midwife.

Our midwife just popped in and checked - Mary is 10cm! She went from 4 to 10cm in a matter of two/three hours! The midwife manually broke Mary's waters and is getting ready for Mary to push....