more madeleine pictures

well, we wouldn't be good parents if we didn't insist on showing everyone pictures of our baby, so here are some more for your viewing pleasure.

randy already has madeleine on a strict music regime. the piano is still a little difficult for her, but she clearly has potential. we started her on mozart at the hospital and last night we had some jazz time. randy was teaching her how to swing. she is going to be a well rounded musician yet. she has already mastered the concept of the crescendo and demonstrated it in the form of a cry last night during some tummy-time.

seriously though, she does great with randy's piano playing, which is a relief. she can sleep while he plays, even when she was on the floor right next to him. this will be nice, seeing as randy's practice schedule would be severely limited if we had to wait for her to be awake.


so far (knock on wood), madeleine has been a great sleeper, too. we have kept her up from about 6:30-9:30 in the evenings and the last two nights, she has slept for five hours straight, been up to eat and look around for a couple hours, and then back to bed for at least three more hours. we are very grateful and haven't been completely exhausted during the day. i realize this could all change in an instant and at her whim...


this is her wild mass of hair from the back. it just kind of does it's own thing .

overall, we think she is perfect.

our perfect christmas gift

madeleine arrived on christmas day at 1:15 pm and was 21 inches long, 8 pounds, 2 ounces. i'll tell a little bit about the birth (don't worry, no gory details), but for those of you who would rather not hear it in that much detail, you can skip to the part below where we become proud first time parents and post a bunch of pictures of her.

on christmas morning, around 10:45, i was doing dishes in my parent's kitchen (fortunately we had already had a great christmas breakfast) and my water broke. because i was already dilated, we decided to head into the hospital right away. about five minutes later, i started having contractions. fortunately, we were going to be leaving to go down to a family christmas brunch, so randy was already in the middle of shoveling the snow out from around our car when my water broke.

we are poor planners and had to stop for gas before going to the hospital, and by the time we got gas, my contractions were about 3 or 4 minutes apart. randy raced like a skilled driver to the hospital, and by the time we arrived, my contractions were 2 minutes apart and i was getting pretty uncomfortable.

with it being christmas day, labor and delivery was really slow, so they put us straight into a room and got me all hooked up onto machines and got my i.v. going. they checked me right away and i was already at a 5. i wanted an epidural right away, but they were having a hard time getting a hold of the anesthesiologist (something about it being christmas). when he did finally arrive, i was already pushing, and they told me that it was kind of pointless to give me an epidural at that point, because by the time it kicked in, she would be out (oh, i was completely dilated within half an hour of being at a 5). having heard stories about women pushing for a long time before the baby came, and not wanting to remain in the pain that i was currently in (as comforting and sweet as randy was being, it wasn't enough) any longer, i was very glad when they suggested doing a spinal. within a minute, i was MUCH happier.

to make a short labor story even shorter, madeleine was born at 1:15pm. so, within 2 and a half hours of my water breaking, she was out. i really can't complain. short labor, no complications, and i still got my drugs. we were the last birth of the day (they had a couple others early in the morning), so we got plenty of attention and care.

she is absolutely adorable (no bias here) and we are so glad to have her as part of our family. some people may think that christmas is a rotten day to have a birthday, but we actually think that it's pretty fun and now have two wonderful births to celebrate. we look forward to the many adventures that she will bring into our lives.

now onto the pictures:

a handsome father and daughter duo
a less handsome picture (see, i am already making sacrifices for my child) of a worn out and puffy mom right after delivery.

madeleine in her gnome hat.
holding her dad's hand
getting cleaned up
she got a red and green bow to celebrate the holiday

a day late and a baby short

well, i'm officially a day past my due date and still no sign of madeleine. i can now say that i have reached the point where i am very ready for her to come out. randy's done with finals, we have everything for her that we need, and i get bigger and more uncomfortable every day. i'm just kind of waiting at this point. come out little girl!

anticipating madeleine's arrival

well, it's been a while since i've posted a general update on the pregnancy (this will probably be the last one since i am due in a week) and have had a few requests, so here we go.

it has been a busy past few weeks and i still have a bunch of things that i would like to do before madeleine arrives (this includes buying the child clothing), but the list is slowly whittling down and i'm feeling a little more prepared.

here are a couple pictures of the pregnancy profile.

i'm still feeling pretty good with the pregnancy, although i do feel a lot bigger. i've started to notice little things that weren't a problem even a couple weeks ago. for instance, all of a sudden i have a hard time looking over my shoulder when i'm driving because my body doesn't turn so well anymore. my ankles just barely started swelling last week, which i was hoping to avoid. i try to keep my feet up as much as possible, but it's not always possible with work. despite feeling big and having cankles, i still haven't hit the stage where i feel like i am dying to have her NOW and am counting the days. perhaps that is because i feel like i still have things to do and i'm hoping for randy to finish finals before she comes.

my aunt threw me a baby shower last weekend and it was great. we mostly just sat around, ate, and talked. my mother-in-law was even nice enough to come down for it. i got some great gifts and have to particularly brag about the beautiful quilts and bedding that i got. madeleine is blessed with two grandmas who know how to sew very well. here are some pictures from the shower, as well as a couple pictures of the quilts:

as soon as i got home from the shower, i made up the crib and it looks great.

for some reason, just having the crib made makes it feel more final that she really is coming. i think that randy noticed that as well - he walked into the room for the first time after i had made the crib and said, "wow, we're having a baby." i think that he's more anxious for her to come than i am, if that's possible. on sunday, he insisted that we pack the suitcase several times, although i've still managed to put it off. i really should get around to that...

i'm it?

apparently i've been "tagged" and am supposed to post five things about myself on my blog. i have to admit (no offense to nicole) that i feel like i'm suddenly involved in some chain letter type of activity. however, i enjoy reading other people's posts when they've been tagged and i wasn't warned that some child in china would die if i didn't keep the chain going, so i suppose that i will continue on.

1. we have alice in wonderland doorknobs in our house. sometimes i imagine them talking to me.

2. i've been to the police academy and i am a certified special functions officer. we're not just talking went on a tour of the police academy and got some cheesy certificate and a sticker. i attended for six weeks, met some "rigorous" requirements, and was sworn in with an oath ceremony as an officer. all of this was against my will.

3. my favorite movie is the sound of music. i really do get this exhilarating feeling every time the helicopter shot swoops down on julie andrews belting out "the hills are alive." they don't make 'em like they used to.

4. i know how to survive in the wilderness and it's all thanks to bear grylls. randy and i have a limited number of channels, but fortunately, one of them is the discovery channel. if we ever flip on the tv and man vs. wild is on, we can't help but watch. it is truly fascinating. the things this man does... if i ever find myself in the sahara desert with a dead camel, i know how to get food, drink, and shelter from the carcass. i'm prepared for anything.

5. one of the things that i miss most since becoming pregnant is sushi. my brother has already been commissioned to go get sushi as soon as i give birth and report directly to the hospital. this cannot happen soon enough.