1 Week Old Photoshoot!

After some encouragment from my sis., I finally pulled out a strobe and my camera and shot some pics of the babe. :)



My sister was very helpful in setting up some of the shots, and even acting AS a prop in some of the pics. Thanks, dot!!



These are some that I've edited...

Poor child... won't stand a chance in avoiding my camera in the future. hahaha...

SHE's HERE! Part 4 - Recovery

Once we were settled, we had a slew of nurses come in to introduce themselves. The "mom nurses" came in and showed me/us the things in our room, the restroom, and how I needed to rinse down-there, etc. And how to make (what I like to call) my Pizza-Pad. I was going to take a pic of it, but decided against it. :) hahaha... basicallly, I had a pair of soft crochet-like granny-pants that I wore with a HUGE pretty-much-a-diaper-Pad, with: a small ice-pack placed inside; two witch-hazel Tuck-like-sheets on top of the ice pack; on the sheets, I needed to add two small dollops of prescription cream AND two small sprays of anti-itch-whatever. Phew! Tim had to help me out a couple of times... until I found a simpler combination for myself to use.



Also met the Nursery Nurse that would help us with olivia that night, and the technician...or whatever.



After a nice dinner (which i already posted pics of), some relaxing, and some time with Olivia, we had some friends stop by.



Let's see...I don't think i'll necessarily do a day-by-day recap...



But we had some more friends stop by the next day.



And some photos shot by Our369.com. Tim bought the 8 pics on a disk.

Here's a pic of my point-of-view of our room. It was nice!

Here's Olivia and our doctor the day after birth.

Hmmm... anything else that was eventful during my recovery? Not that I can really remember... The second night, I had Tim sleep with me in my hospital bed b/c his poor back was all out-of-wack after sleeping on the small cot. We kept Olivia in the room with us until late in the evening, then had the nurse take her to the nursery.

The lactation nurse came in a couple of times to work with me on the breastfeeding bit. Too bad I hadn't read-up more on breastfeeding BEFOREHAND b/c after Olivia was born, I tried having her latch on. She didn't latch right. And NO ONE TOLD ME YOU HAD TO PRY THEM OFF WITH A FINGER FIRST!!! Hahahaha... So I think the most damage to my boobs were done THEN instead of later. Sigh... oh well. Asked for (and received) some nipple covers...we had called them something else, and it took the nurse a little bit to realize that we were talking about two different nipple-things.

Olivia's pediatrician stopped in to say "hi" and to give her her first checkup.

Tim got me an AMAZING 30-min massage...it was only $30 bucks or so... it felt SO NICE!! And it turned out that the lady giving me my massage was also LDS. We had a nice convo with her about immunizations and waiver forms.

Doh! See, now I've waited TOO long to finish up this post, and I don't remember what else I've been wanting to post about.

On the last day of my hospital stay, our friend Lilian helped us pick up my fam from the airport. They came to hospital to "pick me up", and we carpooled back home. It was cute to see my niece interact with Olivia...she was a bit nervous and didn't really know what to do about her.

Pictures

Me after delivery... in our room... with my dinner. Yum! i was Hungry!

Tim and Olivia. This is still in the delivery room.

Me and olivia. Still in the delivery room.

Olivia. In her bed-table thing while they monitored her temp and stuff. We had them wait a bit to put the eye-cream on her so we could see her beautiful eyes.

My Grandpa

On the 15th day of the 5th month, at 15 minutes past the 15th hour (according to my parents), my dad's dad passed away.

(Bottom right is my grandpa).

This is one of a series of pictures I took of my grandpa doing some exercises. :)

This is an old video I found of my grandfather and I celebrating my birthday.

Baby Jogger Stroller

Since receiving the free car seats, we finally pulled out a boxed-up stroller that we received for Christmas from Tim's parents. It was fun putting the wheels and canopy on. Niiice!
I guess if we wanted to, we can buy an attachment that would allow us to put the car seat in this stroller... if not, we'll just use the free one.

No baby yet, but we're already loving this stroller!

Wierd Clothes

These pics are for my sister... because that yellow shirt was hers. :)

Speaking of my older sister... I was going to wear one of her long dresses that she gave me this past Easter Sunday... (it was a blue and yellow gingham-type dress). Tim said it was still too big for me, so I changed. Then at church, he told our friends that it looked like one of those polygamist dresses. Hey! Rude! :) haha...

Last dinner meal with Mom and Dad...

So before Mom and Dad continued their journey home to Utah, Mom made a DELICIOUS meal of lamb, potatoes, and asparagus. Mmmm... It smelled and TASTED delicious!

Relaxing Sunday

This past Sunday, we finally took Mom and Dad to the nearby dog park. It was such a nice day!
We sat in the grass for a little bit watching all the different dogs run by. It was so relaxing!


Mom made a delicious meal for lunch/dinner using psuedo-"Cafe Rio" recipes she had gotten from Tim's sister. It was delicious! Tortillas, Pinto Beans, Sweet Pork Barbacoa, Cilantro Lime Rice, Lettuce, Pico, and the Creamy Tomatillo-Ranch dressing. Mmmm... I made an extra batch of the dressing later b/c we went through it so fast.

Another day at the rodeo...

I was the last to wake up this morning. But we were able to make it out the door to run an errand before hitting the rodeo. (Mom's cell phone was on the fritz, so we headed to a nearby Verizon store to get it looked at. Image on left).



Here's Mom and I in the blue parking lot, just before walking over to buy tix into the event (right image). Note to self: next year, we'll just take the trax...for some reason, I had read that parking would only be $7...but it ended up being $12! Plus it was a long walk through the parking lot!



We walked through different areas of the livestock show...saw horses (dressed up in cool "superhero" like bodysuits), a donkey-pulling thing, a Llama at the animal races, some heifers (sp?) and a heifer show.

We also stopped to get some BBQ... I got a burger, and everyone else got a sausage. We picked up a funnel cake afterwards. Yum!

After eating and walking around, we walked through some of the exhibits/shopping-areas, and Dad got his scuffed clogs polished. Nice! And not too bad for $7.

While Mom and Dad waited for a personalized item they had purchased, Tim and I rode a "golf cart" back to the parking lot to pick up the car...except we didn't have the car keys. Darn! So we waited for Mom and Dad to make their way back over to the car. :)

See my cowboy boots? Got a lot of good exercise walking around...the first time we went, I was so sore afterwards! This time I was fine. Yeah! Plus, my occasional Yoga sure helps!

What a fun day! Once we got home, I ended up taking a long 3 hour nap! Whoops! Luckily, I was still able to fall asleep at night.

Tim's parents in town!

Tim's parents are heading back home from their long trek across the U.S., and decided to spend the extra day-drive to come hang out with us. Hurray!

We took 'em to Chinatown and enjoyed a nice buffet/hot pot meal. Mmmm... I LOVE watercress!

Then we enjoyed a fun game called Trhyme. We're adding it to our "Want to Buy" list. :)

"You and me, and the devil make three..."

The other night, a (pregnant) friend of mine told me that she turned on some Metallica really loud to see if her baby would respond. She said that as soon as the music started playing, her baby just went CRAZY in her belly! And when she turned the music off, and turned some classical music on, the baby stopped.

So I told Tim to sing to the baby. He put his mouth up against my belly and started singing some tune from "O Brother Where Art Thou"...

"Go to sleep little baby (Go to Sleep little baby)
Go to sleep little baby (go to sleep little baby)
You and me and the devil makes three
Go to sleep little baby..."

There's more to the song, but I guess that's all he remembered. :)

So he's singing in a deep voice into my belly, and we felt her start kicking/punching/something! around...even where his mouth had been! We can't tell if she LIKES the singing, or if she's trying to tell him to STOP!!! :P hahaha...

Ahhh, how cute...

So two nights ago, I decided I needed a haircut. So I went into the bathroom, took out the scissors, and gave myself a trim. Phew! I'm glad it worked out okay! ;) haha! With all the fun (cheap) shopping that I've done, I didn't feel too inclined to go pay someone to cut my hair. PLUS, the gal that cuts my hair is on a cruise right now. So I cut it myself. It feels much better not to have a huge "wig" on top of my head. :)

I also waxed my 'stache, brows (and plucked them too), and even some of my belly. Did I mention that before? As my belly grows bigger, the little "peach fuzz" that I had on my belly seemed to get grosser and grosser... So whenever I wax my brows, I try to wax off some of my belly hair.

Needless to say, I had a MUCH better (feeling) day yesterday. I just felt "cuter". :P
Below is a picture of me after getting home from a "girl's night out" at the Cheesecake Factory.

Black pants from college. New dark gray long tank. Yellow-T from a couple years ago. Maroon necklace from last summer. Jean jacket from a couple years ago.


While I was in my "cute" mood, I decided to take some pics in my sister's long tanks (so she can see the colors that she asked for). Hopefully I didn't stretch them out. :) haha! Nice, long, and not-skin-tight! (I figure she could sew-them-in if they're too wide.)

Left to Right: Dark gray, brown, pink, blue. Not pictured: white.


I'll be posting a chart soon, but just FYI, I've gained about 2 pounds in the past week-and-a-half, and my belly has grown half-an-inch (who knew one half-inch would mean my pants would feel SO much tighter?!?). I think that means I'll have to find some time for another photoshoot this weekend.

To Florida and beyond!

Tim and I just returned from an AMAZING trip to Florida. Needless to say, the flight there was MUCH more enjoyable than the LAST time we flew to Orlando! :)

Our flight was delayed a couple hours...but it actually worked out well because my family had enough time to pick up the rental van and grab some food for the kids.

After "checking in" to get the key to our rental house, we hung out a bit, put the kids down, made a grocery list, then headed to Walmart for some grocery shopping! We were just part of a small handful of peeps there shopping late at night.

We got SO MUCH FOOD! (Here's my sis and bro-in-law coming out of the store with the 2ND shopping cart, and Tim loading up the van with food from the 1ST shopping cart).


After a restful night, we awoke the next morning ready to hit the town! We went to the Magic Kingdom first and rode many rides (well...*I* didn't, b/c OBVIOUSLY I'm pregnant). There were quite a few (kiddie) rides that I was able to get on.

(Left to Right: Tim and I, Tim and my parents, The Fam, little nephew and niece that LOVED the Pooh ride...we rode it twice! That's a pic of them with their fastpass tickets).
While the bigger kids went on the bigger rides with the adults, I followed my mom and sister to get autographs from some of the "stars". :D It was a ton of fun just chillin with the girls.

(Left to Right: After the first day of Disney, Tim and the kids enjoyed a nice warm swim in the pool in the backyard. Day 2, niece and nephews and mom with some not-quite-so Little Ensteins. Day 2, eating our packed lunch at Hollywood Disney...mmmm...those picnic lunches we made were YUM YUM! Day 2, mom, kids and I sitting and watching the Toy Story Block Party).

After a couple days at Disney, my other sister came into town and we headed off for our Disney Cruise. Woo hoo!

1. Family at Disney dock after unloading luggage from van.
2. Us adults during the emergency drill.
3. Checking out the kids' clubs after signing the kids up. So cool!
4. All of us girls on deck!
5. Tim and I in front of one of the "smoke stacks".
6. Early morning workout at the gym. (My sister is taking the picture).
7. Early morning breakfast after our morning workout.
8. Day in the Bahamas. Bought some cute jewelry...and ice cream. :)
9. Me and some of my favorite nieces. SO excited to have a girl! :)
10. Playing Taboo in the Promenade Lounge.
11. Tim and I (with my family) eating at PALO, an adults-only restaurant.
12. Pirate Party! Tim always ends up having SOMEONE on his shoulders!
13. Sitting down to watch a movie! We watched two movies while on board...this is when we went to see Beverly Hills Chihuahua.
14. After disembarking, we headed to nearby Coco Beach to play in the sand. (Unfortunately, the temperature had dropped, and it was COLD!)
15. Heading back to the cars and dusting off.

Some more pics from the ship...

1. Tim and I at our first dinner spot--Animator's Palate. We had missed this the last time we cruised with Disney, so it was cool to see the walls change!
2. Tim and I enjoying some Room Service after dinner. hehehe...
3. Family and I at Triton's for dinner.
4. Ditto...
5. Three of Triton's desserts. So lately I've been on a Creme Brulee kick...so I ordered one. And I had had a sundae the night before, and it was good...so I ordered one. And I just HAD to try the orange-ginger crepe suzette...so I ordered one. Mmmm...

On the first day on board, there was a launch party on deck. Tim was asked to go on stage during one of the dances. He got a free virgin strawberry drink afterwards.

Family

I love it when family is around! Life is SO much different when you are far from both sides of the family. While in school, we lived with Tim's parents (and near cousins and siblings)--life was "easy" and we just felt "grounded" (and we probably took it for granted). Now, we are far far FAR away from BOTH of our families. It's been fun, and we love where we're at...but it's just so far away! You start to realize (even more) how important family is (regardless of which "side" of the family you're talking about). I guess this is a good test to see how I/we'd feel if we moved over-seas one day... :P


Why this schpeel about family? Well, Tim's parents drove through this past week and visited us for a couple days. It was SO much fun having them here! It made us realize (or remember) how COOL it is to be with family!!

We took 'em to many of our favorite restaurants and just had FUN hanging out! Unfortunately (or fortunately), we only had two projects for Dad to do for us--drill a hole in one of our broken garage-opener-keychain-things and fix one faulty toilet-flusher-handle.

Here we are at Korean BBQ. And that's me with a helmet on. :)