It's a Girl

Wow. A lot seems to have happened in the last week.

The biggest news is that we welcomed a daughter into our brood. I guess I should have announced with the first introduction that it was a girl. I thought Wren was a pretty girlie name, but there have been several folks who hadn't heard the name before and thought it was a boy.

The labor and delivery went surprisingly fast fast fast. We knew it would be quicker this time - but the leap from contractions every 5-6 minutes to every minute to birth just zoomed by. Greg was furiously working to finish his seminar paper and submit it to his professor. He sent his "as good as it's going to get" version around 1:45 am and laid down to rest for an hour or so. At 3 am, I woke Greg up and then called my Mom and told her to come downstairs (she was staying in the garage apartment behind the house since my awesome landlords loaned her the place while they were in Houston). From the time I called my Mom, until she got up, and down the stairs - contractions went from every 5 minutes to about every minute and a half. Eeeeek! Time to go! Greg and I grabbed our bags and went to the car. It was 3:45 am when we left the house for the hospital. I called the after hours number for my OB and spoke to Dr. Cowan who said he'd see us at the hospital in a few minutes. Around 4 am, we strolled in, checked in at the nurses station and were shown to a triage room. By this point, I had told the nurses to page the doctor -- but I don't think they truly believed me! They did of course page him, but we'll get to that in a moment. :) Just as I was to be moved from triage to Labor and Delivery my water broke -- what a strange strange feeling that is... Seriously, it's just weird. Made it to L&D and the nurses went to check to see how far along I was -- and I told them I was ready to push. Wait, wait they said... the doctor isn't here yet. Ha! If you've ever had a child there is no wait, no pause and no holding back. Baby was ready to come whether the doctor was there or not! Sure enough, I said I was ready and the nurse said, yep... there's the head! Wowzers! One more good push and poof out popped the baby into the L&D nurses arms. The time was 4:51 am. Dr. Cowan arrived in the room a couple of minutes later. :)

We're now all home and attempting to settle into some sort of routine. Atticus has been absolutely fantastic with Wren. I'm amazed at how quickly he learned her name - seriously, I think it took him 24 hours. He's never said his own name -- but somehow he's taken to her immediately. He's a very big helper too. Atti wants to bring her blankets, socks, diapers, the pacifier... it's incredibly sweet. If we're in the other room and Wren starts to stir, he comes running into our room to peek into the bassinet saying, Wren Wren. The tricky part has been the morning schedule. Atticus used to wake up at 7:15 am on the dot -- but I don't think he's sleeping as soundly now and hence he's waking up quite a bit earlier. The catch is that Wren seems to get up at the same time, so trying to feed both kiddos is a bit of a juggling act but I'm sure we'll figure it all out.

I've posted some new pictures to Picasa -- see the Baden Family Photos link off to the right. I'll try to be diligent with updating the blog over the next couple of months, but you can always just give me a call or drop by if you're in the neighborhood. I promise, if I'm sleeping - I just won't answer the phone/door. :)

Introducing...

Wren Cosette Baden

Born 5/18/2010
4:51 a.m.
8lb 5oz
21.25 inches
Full head of blonde curly hair

Seen here sitting on Mom's lap after lunch. :)

Vocabulary

Two of Atticus's teachers told me this afternoon that he's starting to say new words almost every day. Yay! Of course, some of the words make no sense to me -- he seems to have invented his own words for a few things, but we're finally rocking and rolling with the vocabulary.

Over the past couple of weeks, Greg and I are pretty sure we've heard: rock, bicycle, car, truck (which for some reason Atticus calls gowa), cheese (Atticus's word sounds like choo), color, shoes (which also sounds alot like choo), and a host of other really random things. He's really getting into saying "mine" and "nope".

A few other really cute habits that have appeared recently -- he likes to give his stuffed Tigger a hug. He doesn't do this to any other stuffed animal -- just Tigger. He's also been wanting to take Cheerios to bed. I'm not sure this is one of my more brilliant ideas -- but it keeps him occupied for a little while longer when he wakes up allowing me more sleep. :) This won't really matter very soon -- but it has been convenient this past week. Atticus also gives me a big hug when I put him to bed. He rests his head on my shoulder/neck then lays down for bed. So sweet....

39 Weeks

Who would have guessed that I'd still be pregnant at 39 weeks? And yet -- so far, this little one has made no effort to greet the big bad world. Seriously -- they've got it good at the moment, I wouldn't be in a big rush either I suppose.

So - I'm torn. I'm really ready to be done being pregnant. Standing up is getting difficult, getting in and out of the car is difficult, bending over to pick up a gallon of milk at the grocery store (because they had to put skim on the bottom and then sell out of the front row) is getting difficult, etc. On the other hand -- Greg had his last final today, woot woot, which means we're down to the light at the end of the tunnel. All that's left is the seminar paper. I know - no small task, but we're sooooo close. I'd love to give Greg 4 days of uninterrupted writing time to crank out the paper.

My mom is driving down tomorrow to help chase Atticus around and to be on hand if/when labor does finally start. I'm not exactly sure what she'll do while I'm at work and Atticus is at school during the week -- but I'm sure I can come up with a list of helpful things! Maybe I can convince her to do some research on moving companies and compare quotes, etc. Doesn't that just sound like FUN? :) There is alot still to do around the house, so it will definitely be nice to have a helping hand.

Maybe if the weather holds up tomorrow we'll check in with my cousins who just moved into their new house! I'm dying to see the house and all the new flower beds and the veggie garden! And, we may pop over to visit my Grandparents too -- they always love to see Atticus even if he runs around like a 2 year old! I think Atti has already met about a dozen of their new neighbors at Parmer Woods!!

Lots of possibilities for the weekend if #2 stays put. We'll see what's in store...

So Exciting

Ok... this may not mean much to many of you, but I'm flipping out over here.

One of my oldest and dearest friends is originally from Argentina. Any time her family goes to visit they return with some of the best cookies in the entire world. Seriously. I'm not joking.

Alfajores (specifically the Havanna brand...)

And now - for the first time EVER in the US, they're available at Central Market. I'm tempted to put IM on away status right this very instant and drive over to CM to pick up a couple of boxes. I only live a mile and a half or so from the store. I could be there and back in no time flat. My mouth is watering just thinking about those cookies.

If you've never had these cookies - you absolutely MUST try them.

Still Cooking...

According to the ticker above -- and the actual due date -- we've still got 10 more days to go. I'm torn. I'm definitely ready to be done with pregnancy, but there are some definite advantages to keeping this little one cooking for another 7 or 8 days!!

Greg's decided 5-20-10 would be a good birthday - and it would make the kids 22 months apart exactly. That would be a nice touch. So - mentally, we're holding onto the 20th. The finals and papers will be completed and all that will be left is graduation! Eeeeek, where did the past 3 years go?

I've got a doc appointment this afternoon and we'll know a bit more -- but for now, the motto is "Just Keep Cooking". :)

Mother's Day

Atticus and I had a great day. We spent the morning over at the Mason's house. Atticus and Eleanora played inside and out, destroyed a few things (mostly Atticus), had a nice lunch (thank you Stephen) and did fairly well romping around and having fun. There was a nice nap in the afternoon and then we went for a walk the neighborhood with our friend Claire!

As a bonus, Greg took Atticus and I to dinner at Santa Rita. Atti is definitely our child -- give that boy some chips, salsa, a quesadilla, rice and beans and he's a happy camper! The only funny thing is that you have to call the meal a "taco". He won't eat it if you say quesadilla. It's really odd - so we're just rolling with it.

While Atticus was napping, I opened my gift bag that he brought home from daycare. I don't know if it's the pregnancy hormones - or just the fact that these were my first gifts from the little man, but I got teary eyed!! I think it's the poem that goes with the handprints that really did me in. I've posted the pictures in the May album and in the Atticus's Artwork album. Go to the Baden Family Photos link over to the right.

Stick a Fork In Me

We had successful forkage this evening! Woot, woot!! Atticus was able to use the fork to stab some pasta, look down to make sure it was really on the fork, then get it to his mouth without dropping anything. Way to go little man!! He's been doing really well with the spoon - not turning it upside down etc and getting applesauce, yogurt, cottage cheese to his mouth, but he'd been struggling with the stabbing motion needed for the fork.

So yay! Successful forkage!

Bummer

This little one has already been cooking for 2 days longer than Atticus. I'm not sure if it's been those extra two days, or just blind luck -- but I've actually noticed a couple stretch marks in the past few days. They're right where the shoulder to elbow have been poking out...

Eh, I think I'll survive, but man I was so close to surviving 2 pregnancies without any marks!!

The US and Motherhood Rankings

This article published yesterday shows how the US is seriously lacking when compared with many other countries for maternity benefits (and paternity benefits too).

US Low Score on World Motherhood Rankings

This quote alone says quite a bit...

"The United States has the least generous maternity leave policy -- both in terms of duration and percent of wages paid -- of any wealthy nation."

More Observations

The cat hates me. I don't know why... I pet her, brush her, let her sit on my lap and yet still she waits until the most inopportune moment to pee on the floor (namely when it's only me at home, or as Greg is running out the front door). I don't think Peanut realizes that all the extra work and stress she's putting on me is only going to make baby #2 appear sooner rather than later - and then she's going to have to contend with a toddler chasing her everywhere and a screaming infant. Oh boy - the future looks bright!

And another thing... make up compacts should be more drop resistant. I'm pregnant. I'm a little clumsy right now and when I drop my MAC compact and it shatters all over the floor it makes me cry. Then I get pissed because I'm going to look even worse when I head off to the hospital to have this baby because I have no powder with which to powder my nose. Grrrrr. It's not like I have all the time in the world to get to the MAC store! (And I checked - no one is selling my color on Amazon, or I'd have it delivered!!)

And the dishwasher needs to learn to unload itself. I don't have the energy or the patience to lean over and pick everything up and put it away.

I think that's it. Of course, it's only lunchtime... I'm sure there's more in the cards for the remainder of my day!

Observations

Lessons learned:

Cat vomit comes out of the sofa cushion better than the water stain I added when trying to clean the slipcover before taking it to the dry cleaner. Even the dry cleaner couldn’t remove the stains. Joy. $10 to clean the cushion and I might as well have just run it through the washing machine with OxyClean. (I may still do this…)

Magic eraser will only remove so much orange crayon from cream colored suede. (No wonder so many glider rockers come in denim…)

Putting the router to your wireless network in the baby’s room is a bad idea – especially when it’s taking your toddler at least an hour to fall asleep and the router is on the fritz and needs to be reset at least once a night. This is seriously hindering my ability to get anything done online this evening. (I’m typing this in Word so that I can upload it later.)

The lack of an office and dedicated study space in the house is going to drive me nuts. Thankfully we’re nearing the end of exams – but then we have to start BAR Prep, which I think will be even worse. I’m going to have to invest in headphones like my father wears so that I can watch tv while Greg studies!

Good friends are hard to come by – and it really sucks when they live far away.

In other random news, while at dinner tonight, Atticus saw a fly on the window and said, “bee, bee”. I was pretty impressed.

A Comedy of Errors

Seriously. I must have done some bad things in a former life. Either that, or it's a full moon, or my stars aren't in Venus anymore -- something like that!

This morning, Atticus was coloring at his table while I was getting some clothes out of the dresser. He shouts very excitedly, "color" and I turn to see him with an orange crayon in hand making large robust strokes on the ivory colored suede ottoman that matches the glider rocker. I shout "NOOOOOOOO" and he drops the crayon and looks at me like, what??? (I still need to get that out...)

Greg and Atti leave for school and I start my work day. Nothing major occurred overnight - good sign. My stomach growls so I head to the kitchen to get a bowl of cereal. I see something that catches my eye in Peanut's litter box. OMG - it's a roach the freaking size of Texas! Do I cover it? Do I spray it? Do I run screaming into the other room and hope it just disappears? The cup option sounded reasonable, but I didn't want to get that close to it -- and I don't think we have a cup big enough to cover the thing! Next thought - pretend you didn't see it... no, that won't work, I'd really freak out if I thought it was roaming in our bed or Atti's crib late at night. Ewwwwww. Third option, get the roach spray. But crud, if I spray it -- we'll have to replace all the litter and I don't have any more. And... we're using the expensive litter now. For pete's sake... So, I spray the roach hoping to contain the spray (and hence the litter removal) to one corner of the box. No such luck. It goes running around flipping out through the box. After I screamed like a girl for a few more moments, I sprayed some more. This sucker was going to be dead dead dead - especially if I was going to have to replace all the freaking litter!

One bonus to our current house is that it has pocket doors that seal off practically every room in the house. So - I've got the door to the kitchen closed off so Peanut can't go in there and over lunch, I'll head to HEB, get some more litter and give the kitty cat a new box.

Sigh...