More Helpers

First, some pictures in the monkey blanket. These big, gauzy blankets arrived in the mail right after Amelie was born from Aunt Laurie, and have been really nice since the hot weather hit.

Ninja baby!


I don't know about all of these suspicious characters ...


My mom left on Sunday, and then, super conveniently, Sam's parents arrived.

Grandma Mary Beth


Grandpa Buffaloe


Right now, everyone is doing household chores while I sit on the computer and update the blog.

Sleeping & Awake

So one of the baby books I read claimed that newborns only have 3 emotional states: sleeping, crying, and alert. Well, we haven't taken any pictures of Amelie crying, but here are some of her sleeping and a video bonus of her doing what she does while awake.

These sleeping pictures are from a few days ago, but they're still pretty darn cute.



Here's one of Amelie sleeping in her bouncy seat. (Thanks, Kendra!) Sam just doesn't know why she won't sleep quite as long in the co-sleeper as she will in the vibrating chair.


Finally, the much-anticipated video of Amelie awake at 5 days old.


The good news is that Amelie's doing wonderfully. I'm taking a little longer to recover (and can't really imagine how single people manage to do this). Usually, I think first-time parents overreact about the new baby and call the doctor all the time. We've had no problems from her, but have had to make a call to the doctor for me and then a separate trip to the ER last night, but we've had a lot of help (Thanks, Mom!) and I'm getting better every day.

She's Here!

Amelie Jane made her arrival on Friday, May 21st at 2:26pm, weighing 7 pounds and very nearly 5 ounces and measuring in at 18 and 3/4 inches long.



Here's a picture of Amelie on her birthday being held by her Aunt Holly.



Mom's still kind of worn out, but happy.


And, since Sam was complaining that this blog makes it seem as though I am a single parent, here are some pictures of Sam holding the baby.





Nana Jana got to come up on Saturday, and she'll stay to help out this week.



Barb and Luke have also been an enormous help. I'm not sure how we're going to be able to pay them back. (Barb sets a high bar re: baby-helping-out, but we already knew that.)



We had a bit of a meltdown being fastened into the carseat for the first time, but seemed to really enjoy the car ride home.

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting

Here's what a woman looks like at 40 weeks pregnant. Notice how red my face is. That's because I'm hot.


Just in case you didn't believe me before that I am not quite as wide around as I am tall, here's proof:


Apparently, I've grown some since I last measured.


So far today, I've been to water aerobics, taken the dog on two walks, had a round of acupunture, drank three strong glasses of red raspberry leaf tea plus a mug of fenugreek tea, eaten a little over half a pineapple, bounced on the birth ball, walked up and down the stairs and along the curb, and projected lots of warm, welcoming thoughts the baby's way. Oh yes, and I got a haircut and a pedicure :)

And, finally, here's a picture of the bassinet, for those of you who are interested in that kind of thing.

Getting Ready

Here are a few pictures of the nursery and one that's hopefully (maybe?) my last pregnant profile picture.


Thanks very much to Emma and Deb for the ottoman in front of the glider, and to Grandma Doris for the quilt, and to Natalie for the decorated picture frame!



Aunt Lana was very impressed with the wipes warmer I found on Craig's List.



The baby picture you can see here is of me. We'll see pretty soon who the baby looks like.


This photo shows our stash of cloth diapers, plus a shadow box that Barb made for the baby and a womb sounds bear from my Aunt Juli.


Here I'm thinking today would be a good day to have a baby. I measure 48 inches around at this point, but at least I'm taller than I am wide.