Christmas 2008

Our first live Christmas tree! Of course 3 days after Jimmy set it up and we decorated it I found a spider in the tree and told Jimmy to take it outside and burn it. Luckily he didn't listen. He and my pospartum hormones are old friends and they have an unspoken understanding.

Sophie arrives

The contractions started 4:30am the day before thanksgiving. By 7:30am I was 10 cm dialated and at the hospital. One hour and a half later, after having declined pain medication (long story short: the nurses insisted I could push a few times and have the baby in a matter of minutes rather than wait around for the anesthesiologist), and having pushed for 30 minutes with not much progression, I teetered on the brink of sanity from the pain of natural childbirth. So in I pleaded for a c-section...and lo and behold..

Sophie was weighed in at .1 less than Katherine at 6.8 lbs. Both were around 75% for weight, but 95% for head circumference (please tell me that's why I've struggled and failed to push both of them out). While it was a vague suspicion in my mind before, I am now convicted of this - I am not cut out for labor. So I'm done!

Ah, there's nothing like a hard day's work. I need a vacation.

The baby shower (the last milestone before D-day!)

The spread (creme brulee french toast - can such a perfectly indulgent thing exist??)



Me looking rather shaky holding my friend's 12-week old son (apparently it's not like riding a bike).

One of the last few pics as a threesome! Ah K, you look so at peace while I tremble within.

The ladies who made it all possible. I can't tell you how desperately grateful I am to personally know more than 1 other mom the second time around.

Professional pictures - better late than never??

We finally got around to having a professional photographer take some family pictures of us because 1) he offered the service for free (neighbor who needs to build his portfolio) but 2) he was more interested in snapping shots of my big belly than getting heirloom quality family shots.

These are the only pictures where he doesn't make me flash my belly. Anyway, I realized afterwards how badly we need quality professional pictures of our growing family so I will have to remember to add this to the to do list once baby #2 arrives (right after #42: brush my teeth and #43: return to the land of the living).

Baltimore marathon - done!

Whew, after months of getting up at 6am to run, Jimmy finished a quarter of a marathon (as part of 4-man relay) this past weekend in Baltimore to benefit the lukemia and lymphoma society!! K could not have been happier - she thinks she's at disneyworld with all the mouse ears floating around.

Ack, what happened to summer 2008?

Ever since I got pregnant with #2, my desire to blog or do anything remotely productive instantly evaporated. But 6 months without having made a single entry - I'm mortified by how lazy I've been...

...And how lazy I'm going to be by just posting pictures to sum up these past 6 months. Though I think these pictures do incomparably more than words to show how much K has grown over this summer.

The ultimate thing that inspires

The last post was an expression of just one tiny moment I experience during any given day. A more accurate picture of what lies within my universe of inspirations must, by definition, include my daughter, K. All that she says and creates, a flash of a genuine smile and the grip of her hand around my finger, it is the kind of inspiration that drives one to reach beyond one's grasp - to be a kinder, more hopeful, more patient...are we not all inspired to be better people as a result of our children? And what better reason to be inspired?