Happy Birthday Hayley Jayne

A BIG congratulations to our good friends, Sara and Shane, who just had their first baby! Hayley Jayne was born Saturday, June 26th at around 9:30PM. She weighed in at 8 lb 1 oz and is 18" long. She has a full head of dark brown hair and is just perfect.

Welcome to the world Hayley. We love you already,
and we can't wait for you and Laila to be the BEST of friends!

Nesting?

I have always been a rather organized person, so I don't know whether to say it's the pregnancy or just me being me, but I have been in super-organization mode lately...below are a few of my projects of late. Unfortunately I don't have any "before" pictures, so you may not be as impressed as you probably should be :)

GARAGE
We have been trying to organize these shelves since we moved in. We finally got the right side (first photo) finished, but realized we needed more shelves for the other side. I decided to go to Costco one day while Collin was on a conference call. I bought the shelves, got them home, put them together and organized the rest of the garage all by myself. Needless to say, I was pretty proud of myself. I wanted to sleep in the garage that night and just stare at my handiwork :) Collin was rather impressed too. I would like to say thank you to my mom, who taught me to be a proactive person and GET THINGS DONE!

BACK PATIO
The back patio has had old boxes, trash and yes, a dead Christmas tree, on it since we moved in back in December. It was a nightmare and really disgusting. I finally called our trash company and found out that we could schedule a free "bulk item" pickup, so I did that which forced us to get all of the crap out into our alley to be picked up. It feels sooo good to have a clean patio! The only problem is that it looks really bare and empty. Thankfully, we have Professor Copperbottom to fill some of the space now. And, on a daily basis, Chloe scratches at the door to go outside and sunbathe. She loves it out there.

FRONT PATIO
The front patio has been in need of weeding/sweeping cleanup for some time now. I didn't do any planting or anything, but spent some time on Sunday weeding, cleaning up leaves and dead flowers and then went to the store to buy mulch and laid mulch in all of the flower beds. Once done with that, I did a thorough sweeping and hosed off the patio. It looks so nice now!
P.S. I wish I had a picture of what Collin was doing while I was doing all of this, but it slightly resembled someone slathered in suntan lotion laying in a lounge chair.

CLOSETS
Our closets really needed to be organized, so today I decided to get that project underway. I weeded through a bunch of clothes and got everything into nice, neat piles. I even fixed all of our shoe racks and got those organized. It's nice to not have to dig for the matching shoe in the back of the closet when you're 8 months pregnant!

BED INTO A COUCH
And finally, when we set up Laila's nursery, we moved the twin bed that we had in there out into our upstairs common area. We call it "the nook". I don't love the idea of having a bed out in the open, but I do like the idea of having more places for visitors to sleep, so I was determined to find a bunch of pillows and make this bed look like a cozy couch that was meant to be out in the nook. I am pretty satisfied with the result.

Well, that's it for now. The house is looking much better these days and I have peace of mind.

Organization makes me happy.

Hospital Tour & The Golden Hour

Today we went to Hoag Hospital where I will be delivering to get a tour. They want the expecting moms and dads to feel comfortable knowing where to go and how to get there when the time to deliver comes around. We got to see an LDR (Labor, Delivery and Recovery) room as well as a Mother Baby room, which is where I will be transferred to approximately 2 hours after giving birth. It's pretty cool to give birth in Newport Beach, because most rooms have ocean views that are pretty hard to beat.

Overall, we are very pleased with the hospital and all of its procedures and policies. They have one fantastic policy that has been implemented recently called "The Golden Hour". They basically advocate that the first two hours after the baby is born is mommy, daddy, & baby time. They want us to bond with our baby during her first waking hours without the distraction of any guests, family members or doctors/nurses. They even wait to do newborn procedures such as weighing, bathing, exams, etc for an hour after birth (assuming baby is fine) to allow you to have uninterrupted time with the little one that you just worked so hard to bring into the world. We were very happy to hear all of this, as this time alone is something that the Bradley Method strongly advocates for a number of very important reasons (if you want to know, ask).

After those first 2 hours, we will all be moved to the Mother Baby room where Laila can meet her family for the first time. We are also allowed to use cell phones and will have WiFi available to us, so updates will come quickly once she has arrived! We are allowed to be at the hospital for 48 hours following delivery, but can leave anytime after 24 hours, assuming certain hospital discharge criteria is met. On our last night at Hoag, Collin and I will be treated to a filet and sparkling cider congratulatory dinner. Not too shabby!

Professor Copperbottom

We tried out my new birthday grill (which we have named Professor Copperbottom) on Friday night and I am proud to report that it grills just as good as it looks. And it looks OK without its Patriots jersey too! Heather picked me up some football themed grilling tools to remind me that sports other than Flonkerton (our alternate word for the World Cup sport) still exist. And yes, I am drinking a beer because the recipe called for some, and Heather made me drink the rest of the bottle. Beer is gross.

Laila can look forward to some delicious meals from the grill, including this tasty treat courtesy of Rachael Ray. And how about those corn holders?!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Collin is leaving today for The Big Apple on a business trip. While his job generally requires him to travel a decent amount, God has blessed us by not having him go many places during my pregnancy. I think he has only been away one other time since I've been pregnant, and it was pretty early on. He'll only be away until Friday, but it's never fun to have him leave especially as I am getting closer to my due date and getting bigger and less self sufficient every day.

I have asked him to bring me back one of my favorites from NYC (Tasti-D'lite) but he claims that frozen yogurt won't make it back to California. Boo. I really don't think it's too much to ask, do you?

Welcome to the World, Derek!

Congratulations to our friends, Matt and Christen, who welcomed their first baby, Derek Matthew, into the world today, June 12, at 2:24PM. We love you guys and are so happy for you! Can't wait to meet you baby Derek! Happy Birthday!

A Full Plate

We might be over-doing it, but by golly we're going to be prepared parents! Our schedule over the next 2 months is CRAZY.

June 15: Bradley Class #10
June 20: Hoag Hospital tour
June 21: 33 week checkup
June 22: Bradley Class #11 (FINAL CLASS!)
June 23: Meet with and interview pediatrician at Newport Children's Medical Group
June 25: Meet with and interview pediatrician at Edinger Medical Group
July 1: Meet with and interview a doula
July 7: 35 week checkup
July 7: Baby Saver (First Aid) class
July 12: Breastfeeding Basics class #1
July 15-19: Collin in Boston for Auntie CoDi's wedding festivities (I will be putting myself on strict bedrest with my legs tightly crossed to avoid any premature labor while he is away)
July 19: Breastfeeding Basics class #2
July 20: 37 week checkup
July 21: Baby Care Basics class
July 27: 38 week checkup
Aug 3: 39 week checkup
Aug 10: 40 week checkup & Nana, Auntie CoCo and Lexi come into town
Aug 11: MIL (undecided grandmother name) comes into town
Aug 12: LAILA'S DUE DATE!
Aug 14: Our 6 year wedding anniversary
Aug 28: Auntie CoDi comes into town minus her new hubby (his arrival date is TBD)

We also need to choose a pediatrician, potentially hire a doula to assist during labor and delivery (interviews are currently being scheduled), finish getting everything we need for the baby, schedule an organic carpet cleaning for our house, order blackout shades for the nursery, hopefully plan a last baby-free weekend away, and I am sure a million other little things I am forgetting.

PHEW! Is anyone else tired just from reading that???
I will need to be doing lots of yoga in order to get through all of the above. As a quick update, I have been really good about sticking with the yoga. I started off very mild with "Gentle Yoga" but quickly realized I wanted more, so I have been going 3 days a week to Yoga Blend 1 or 2. I think my body really appreciates the workout and stretching, and I really believe it will be beneficial when I go into labor if I stick with it over the next 2 months.

Happy Birthday to my Baby Daddy

Today is my best friend's 31st birthday. Since babies are clearly on the brain (and the main focus of this blog) I thought it would make sense to talk about what an amazing father I believe Collin will be:

-He is a child at heart which will make him a great playmate for Laila and our (hopefully) future children
-He has a heart and a love for Jesus which he will undoubtedly pass onto our kids by example and teaching
-He loves me and is good at showing it. He will do the same and even more with our children, I am sure
-He has a love for children and is great at interacting with them. He tends to be nervous around babies but for no reason, as he is a complete natural (as indicated in photos above, with his sister and a few of our friends' kids)
-He is patient and kind, even tempered and VERY slow to anger. It takes a lot to shake him, which is good because I hear kids are really good at trying to do that!
-He was born to be a dad, just as I feel I was born to be a mom. He is beyond excited about Laila's arrival and will do his best every day to make sure she is cared for and protected

Oh, and of course, the strongest reason I know he will be a good dad...he already is! He's been helping me raise this little one for almost 5 years now, and she's turned out alright!

I love you, babe.
Happy Birthday. I pray this year will be your best yet as you
enter a completely new phase of your life and become our baby's daddy.

Final Babymoon

I have been looking into a hotel relatively close by where Collin and I can have one last pre-baby weekend getaway sometime in July. I found this gem in Dana Point...what do you think? I am open to other suggestions as well, so let me know if you know of something good. We have Starwood points from our credit card, so we like to go to Starwood Hotels (St. Regis, Sheraton, W, Westin) since we can usually stay for free!

8 Weeks Even Later.

p.s. my belly button has officially popped.