quite dangerous.

so while shopping at costco on friday for the meet-and-greet (i promise this is the last time i talk about that damn party), we picked up a fabulous chocolate cake. we've had this cake before and it's $8 of rich, fudgy goodness.

and somehow, in the blur that was saturday, we managed to put it out, but never cracked it open. i'm sure guests were like, "hmm, that looks damn good, but i sure don't want to be the first one."

so, darn, we were stuck with an entire chocolate cake all to ourselves. bummer. and today, there's, um, half left.

got milk?

oh! and i decided to bust out the scale today. i've been dying of curiosity and this morning, i just couldn't stand it anymore. i stripped down to take a shower, slid it out from under the bathroom sink with my toe, took a deep breath, and hopped on.

holy hell, people! I'M BACK TO PRE-PREGNANCY WEIGHT!! yahoo!! even though i've been eating like crap and haven't set foot in the gym in two months. this nursing gig sure has its benefits.

but then i surveyed the bod in the mirror and thought, "this weight sure did get redistributed funny." bleh.

oh, well. clothes sure do have a way of hiding...stuff...quite nicely.

it. doesn't. fit!

dammit, i told the hub that halloween costume was too small!

see, when we were shopping for the bean's costume, the only one they had in her size was the devil costume. and he just couldn't bring himself to dress up this precious baby girl as something so evil (even though the costume was cute as hell!). so we picked up the dragon costume that was actually meant for a teddy bear or some shit like that.

"it'll fit, i'm sure of it! look how little she is!"

i didn't want to argue, so i toddled off to the cashier and took care o'bidness.

and today is his office's annual trick-or-treat day. employees bring candy to hand out at their cubes, and everyone is welcome to bring their rugrats between 3 and 5pm. i know his ass is itching to show off the bean, although he wouldn't ever admit it.

i just now dressed her in the halloween sleeper one-piece thingy given to us by a good friend at the meet-and-greet, and decided to try the dragon costume on to send her daddy a picture on his phone.

and, of course: it's too SMALL. boob juice is definitely providing her with the required daily nutrients.

crap.

i DIDN'T chicken out, i swear!

[hanging head in shame]

so, yeah, i didn't make it to karaokefest 2007. and my excuse is so friggin' lame, even i'm having trouble buying it.

i'd already picked out something to wear and even got showered and stuff. but then i sat down to feed the bean in the living room - next to the hub, who was taking a nice late-afternoon nap, with the dog at his feet snoring away.

the bean fell asleep.

i fell asleep.

and the next thing i knew, it was dark outside and i was squinting up at the clock, which read 8:00.

hell. i guess that's what i get for having the meet-and-greet the day before. i'd worked my ass off all day long and i was exhausted. um, we even slept through church. again. oops.

and it looked like a fun ass party, too. complete with party favors! dammit. so much for my fun evening out with friends, sans bean AND hub. i suck.

meet & greet, check.

we had a buttload of folks come over yesterday to meet the bean and have some grub. i was afraid that invitations got lost in the mail somehow, because i was hearing back from some of our friends that they never received theirs. that's what i get for being lazy and doing them postcard-style. oy vey.

but the turnout was pretty fabulous! we were so busy running around, entertaining, making sure food and beverages didn't run out, blah, blah, blah, that i never picked up the camera ONCE. i'm so regretting that now. poo.

probably the funniest part was watching my family run around like maniacs in the front and back yards with a pair of scissors and handfuls of plastic bags. we've got a lot of fruit trees at this house, and they were only too happy to "clean up" for us. heh.

now i'm psyching myself up for an evening out - my first time away from the bean. i'm a little sad, but excited to hang out with friends for a while. just cross your fingers that i don't chicken out at the last minute.

the hub is weird, too. but i love that crazy boy.

so, i like sleep. it's just too damn bad i don't get much of it. heh.

but this morning, the hub got up, took the dog to the groomer's, and came home bearing gifts: a croissan'wich and my beloved mocha joe from burger king!

oh, but that man is so good to me. i don't think there was anything i could possibly have wanted more at that moment (well, except sleep).

other random ass shit the hub does: orders two rocking chairs for our front porch, straight from rockingchairs.com. he's outside right now, putting them together.

and then, the kid decides she wants to dress up as a hippie for halloween. so what does my husband do?

he goes to tiedyeteeshirts.com, points at the screen, and says "there you go. pick a color."

these websites crack me up (almost as much as the fact that the hub seeks them out). i can't wait to see what he buys next. ain't internet shopping fun?

the bean is weird.

so, remember my makeup post from a few weeks back? yeah, it's so totally a big fat lie now. i'm finding that i'm damn lucky these days if i can get a shower and slap some moisturizer and mascara on my face. so much for the oh-so-fabulous laura mercier flawless face.

however, i stumbled upon an easy way to make sure that my hair, at least, looks halfway decent. i thought i had the bean down for a nap this afternoon and snuck into the shower to feel like a human being again. but, of course, i wasn't 30 seconds into my routine when i could hear her screaming her head off - not exactly the best way to enjoy a relaxing hot shower.

i rushed through the rest of what needed to be done and jumped out, dripping all over the floor, and stuck a pacifier in her mouth. this was effective for exactly 22.5 seconds - enough time to towel off and get partially dressed. and then, because i can't bear to walk out of the house with wet hair, i turned on the hair dryer.

and immediately, she stopped wailing, gave a big sigh, and closed her eyes.

maybe this is my excuse to get the hub to let me buy that fabulous new hair dryer i've been eyeing. ya think?

walkin' for a cause

on sunday, we got up at the ungodly hour of 5:30 to head out to anaheim for the annual CHOC walk, benefiting the children's hospital of orange county. between the three of us, we'd somehow managed to raise $500 for the cause - not bad, considering the fact that i'd procrastinated big time (shocker, i know) and didn't start soliciting donations till last week. heh.

we made a quick stop at starbucks for some much-needed caffeine before hopping on the [blissfully uncrowded] freeway. the walk was scheduled to begin at 7, and we ran a little late - which was okay, because last year we got there exactly on time and it was cah-ray-zee. so i figured we'd be all good and actually have some room to walk.

right.

at that hour, folks are more likely to be sheep and play "follow the leader" - which resulted in horrifically long lines trying to get to the parking structure. it was ridiculous. the hub, being the smart cookie, swung a couple of u-turns and got us right in, with a parking spot close to the exit, even. good boy!

we put the bean in her stroller and began our magical 5K journey through the disneyland resort. it's really kind of a tease, because the park's not actually open and you don't get to stay afterwards to ride rides. but that's not the point. and you really don't even think about it as you get going and see the teams of folks who are walking in honor of a child who's currently a patient. or perhaps one who's passed away, but was helped by CHOC during their struggle to survive. i had to blink back tears more than once (and now, too, at the memory) as i read the banners and signs that people were carrying. one had a photo of a sweet baby boy, with a caption that said "we miss you and we love you, buddy."

*choke* for obvious reasons, i didn't take any pictures of things like that. just didn't seem right.

there were lots of fun photo opportunities throughout the walk, though. disney magic abounded, including a pretty good jack sparrow clone:

he had the walk and the pirate speak and slow drawl down. then again, disneyland would hardly have a half-assed impersonator, eh?

a little over an hour later, we were crossing the finish line. it was hard to believe how quickly and easily we powered through the 3-mile walk - but that disney magic is mighty powerful.

and here's my random shot of the day - there were folks handing out packets of california poppy seeds at the finish line. note the warning:

don't eat the state flower, folks.

2007, where did you go?

we picked up a halloween costume for the bean a couple of days ago and it hit me that halloween is less than two weeks away.

less than two weeks??

in years past, i've come to realize that as soon as my birthday rolls around, the year's over. because halloween is next, and then thanksgiving sneaks up on us, and before you know it, it's time for holiday shopping and cheer. but we've had so much going on in the last couple of months (ya think?) that i simply didn't even consider that my birthday has come and gone. sheesh.

seems like just yesterday when i was in the midst of holiday cookie extravaganza! and now it's almost time to start looking for those recipe books again. but before that begins, i've got a different project: invitations for thanksgiving.

because i'm such an invitation/card whore, i always send out paper invitations for stuff. i think the last time i used evite was for a backyard BBQ before i started my little business. i still think evite is perfectly acceptable for casual stuff like that, but for any other kind of gathering, you're getting a real paper invitation in the mail. snail mail!

we've decided to do thanksgiving here at our house this year - the family room is large enough to accommodate everyone, and the giant new dining table and TWO couches will actually provide enough seating. in our last house, we always had to bust out plastic tables and chairs so that folks didn't have to sit on the floor.

oooh, i think i'll make turkey cupcakes again!

things i love

• watching the bean stretch after a nap. she really gets into it, arms outstretched, scrunched up face, toes pointed out. it's awesome.
• pillsbury place-and-bake chocolate chip cookies. the epitome of laziness, and 100 calories apiece (although it doesn't help that i can't stop at one cookie. or three).
• catching random episodes of 90210, fresh prince of bel-air, roseanne, or saved by the bell in the wee hours of the night. there's nothing like watching jessie spano's caffeine pill freak-out while feeding the bean.
• shopping online for clothing suitable for our upcoming maui trip. i'm finding all sorts of fun stuff on sale, since summer's over. gotta love spending $100, including shipping, and ending up with six tops and two dresses. oh to the yeah.
• getting to see the kid even when it's not "my week". she's got twice-weekly math tutoring sessions, and when she's with her dad, i get to pick her up from school and see her for about 15 minutes before i drop her off.
• the hub getting up to change diapers at any given time. as he says, he gets the shitty times and i get all the happy moments. not true, but it was funny.
• pottery barn and pottery barn kids. just 'cause.
• my girlfriend's kitchen. that place has saved my ass from having to think of, shop for, and make dinner the last few weeks.
• tivo. for obvious reasons.

i just tried to add visual aids to this post (because i need all the help i can get when it comes to making my posts more interesting, especially lately), but blogger's being a bitch. boo.

i lied.

aside from taking the bean to her first sushi bar last night (pasadena's sushi roku), i really have nothing fun or exciting to talk about.

although it was funny to me that she slept right through the entire meal (funny = fabulous), even with all the sushi chefs shouting greetings to one another and across the restaurant every two minutes. yeah, she was perfectly happy kickin' it in her seat until we got her back in the car and headed home. once it got quiet, that's when she decided it wasn't cool anymore, and started singing for her supper (singing = screaming). heh.

well, okay, and she had her two-week doctor's appointment this morning and woo-hoo - she's gained a pound and she's perfectly healthy. yay!

um, we're participating in this year's CHOC walk on sunday? that's fun, right? it's a 5K walk through disneyland and california adventure, and funds raised benefit the children who are patients at children's hospital of orange county. here's the one photo we took last year, with our friend A:

god, i'm boring myself. i'm going to go find some candy corn and sulk in the corner now.

weekend reca ... zzzzzzzzzz.

yup. i fell asleep trying to think of my own weekend recap! and why is that?

well, because that's pretty much how i spent it. whenever the bean would take a nap, i'd try to catch a few winks myself. although she's really good about waking up for feedings (like, maybe 3 times a night), i still find myself tired as all hell when it's time to get up.

and we even slept right through all three church services on sunday! they were going to have a rose ceremony to celebrate the bean's birth and we managed to miss it. oops. i hear it was lovely, though. heh.

hmm. what a boring ass post. here, have some hands and feet:

perhaps tomorrow i'll be back to normal and have something more entertaining to say.

missed milestones...sort of.

one's kinda craptastic, the other one's just silly, and the last one is pretty spectacular - for me, anyway.

i was looking at the calendar and realized that the anniversary of my wedding to the ex had just passed. and then i did the math and came to the startling conclusion that it would've been our FIFTEENTH anniversary. holy shit. add the five years we dated to that and we would've been together for 20 years?? damn, i feel old.

and it cracks me up to remember that the date is the same as the birthday of the love of my elementary-and-middle-school life. ha! what a coinky-dink. don't think i wasn't fully aware of it at the time, either. [sigh] curtis goddard, where are you now?

and then i suddenly thought of my poor mollydog's birthday, which got lost in the shuffle last month. poor baby. it's four days before my own, and last year when we had the family over for a birthday BBQ, we had sprinkles cupcakes for the humans and a couple of doggy cupcakes (also from sprinkles) for molly. i was kind of sad that we'd forgotten all about her this year - even though she has no clue, or probably really doesn't give a shit, you know?

so i've been wearing the same pair of maternity jeans for the last week because they're the only bottoms (aside from shorts, and it's gotten a little cooler lately) i can fit into. sad, huh? the damn things can probably stand up on their own by now. ew.

anyway, i decided to risk potential heartbreak this morning and busted out a pair of pre-pregnancy jeans. i sent up a little prayer before i stuck my legs in 'em and by some miracle, they slid right up over my childbearing hips with ease! now, granted, these were my "fat jeans" - the ones that i always had to yank up every five minutes or so, back in the day. but i don't care! they buttoned and zipped with no problems, and i can even breathe! woo-hoo!

it really is the little things in life.

procrastinator

that would be me. and i've been one for as long as i can remember. although this is hardly breaking news to anyone who knows me (or reads this blog even semi-regularly).

but yesterday, i finally sucked it up and accomplished two tasks i'd been putting off for-evah.

first, my car is sporting shiny new license plates. yeah, yeah, i've had the damn car since MAY - the kid's birthday, to be exact. but i kept putting it off - plates make it seem not so new anymore! and it still smells new! um, sometimes. now and then. every 3rd tuesday? psh, whatever. at least i won't get pulled over for not having them, anyway. no, if i get pulled over, it'll be for something else. heh.

and we told the kid about our upcoming trip to maui - the one she can't join us on. i was seriously stressing over breaking the news to her - we'd wanted to take her to hawaii this summer but just couldn't get the timing down.

but i forget that she's in the throes of pre-teen "all i wanna do is hang out with my friends" angst. the hub just casually threw it out there - "hey, so we're going to maui with one of my clients next month." and her response? "cool. have fun."

bwahahahaha! i couldn't believe how much i'd worried about her reaction and how she basically pooh-pooh'ed it. "can i spend that weekend with my BFF then?" [shaking head] oh, man.

hell yeah, dudes. grand wailea, here we come! guilt free and all expenses paid, to boot. i can finally let myself be excited fo' real. [happy dancing in chair] now i can start shopping for attire - for me AND the bean. ;)

and for those of you with the sense of humor of a 4th grade boy (like me), the hub and i giggled endlessly over this last night. make sure you click on the little red speaker. and then just keep listening to it over and over again. holy shit, it was funny.

or maybe you had to be there. shut up. i'm giggling at it all over again.

ooh, and the ups man dropped off a box yesterday. this box was damn near four feet tall and came from 1-800-flowers - i was actually a little terrified of what might be inside (because i kill plants just by bringing them in the house). but when i ripped it open and pulled the filler out, i found this:

it's a diaper cake! haha! there's all sorts of goodies packed in this thing - rattles, bibs, socks, a hat - and it's all wrapped up in pink tulle. tulle is wonderful stuff. especially when it's pink! and it came from the hub's office. i thought it was sweet. and i can't bear to tear it apart. we may be stuck with it as-is. hmmm.

yay!/boo. - the postpartum edition

whee! here we go:

the hub's dream came true - the bean has gorgeous gray-blue eyes. yay!
they'll most likely change as she gets older. boo.

i lost ten pounds as soon as she was born. yay!
i still have a fun jiggly belly, similar to my first belly pic. boo.

i'm sporting fab extra cleavage thanks to the wonderfully nourishing boob juice. yay!
these damn tits are so heavy, i can barely hang on long enough to shower without a bra. boo.

i got some ultra-strength motrin from the doc. yay!
it's for the tennis ball-sized 'roid and coochie stitch discomfort. boo.

my maternity clothes are almost too big for me now. yay!
my pre-pregnancy wardrobe is still way, way outta my reach. boo.

from the kid: "wow, mom, you really don't look pregnant at all anymore!" yay!
also from the kid: "haha, you have to use these?? [pointing to my stash of airplane pillow-size maxi pads]" boo.

breastfeeding keeps old "auntie flo" from returning. yay!
postpartum bleeding, which isn't a period, can last up to SIX WEEKS. boo.

but don't let me fool ya. i wouldn't give back any of these "boo."s for the world, because they're all temporary. the joy of the bean is forever.

playing catch-up

i got tagged by several of my blogging buddies DAYS ago. but i figure they'll cut me some slack for lagging behind ;) anyway, here goes:

four jobs i have had in my life
1. customer service at household finance's call center. we got paid commissions for soliciting incoming callers for new loans, credit line increases, and home equity lines. this was pretty much the only sales i would ever do - no cold calling for me, thanks. and once they cut out the commissions, i found a way to transfer into another department for more cash. i actually worked for household for over seven years, only leaving due to a layoff orchestrated by a heffa who had it in for me from day one. [shaking fist] damn you, k.c. i hope your hair fell out and your teef rotted in your mouf.
2. the drive-thru at burger king. this was my first job, and i wore that polyester plaid vest uniform proudly. for about three months. ha!
3. office manager for a property management/appraisal company. i actually dug this job and the people i worked with and for, but it still wasn't better than SAHM-ing.
4. secretary to the CFO of a furniture store. i was all of 18 years old, the job was boring as all hell, and i called in sick more times than you can imagine. i, uh, was "asked to resign". yup. quite a proud moment.

four movies i can watch over and over and over (i had to rack my brain for these - there are quite a few movies i will always stop to watch)
1. the wedding singer
2. dirty dancing
3. the sound of music
4. grease - the original AND the sequel. "i need a C-O-O-L! R-I-D-E-R!"

four tv shows i like to watch (like the movies, this was a tough call. i heart tv)
1. general hospital (since the 5th grade. that's right.)
2. house. i love me some hugh laurie.
3. desperate housewives. hey, i put off going to the hospital to watch the season premiere, remember?
4. prison break. such a ridiculously far-fetched plot, but fun as hell to watch.

four places i have vacationed
1. hawaii. only island i haven't set foot on is lanai.
2. jamaica. hated it. won't ever go back.
3. meh-ico. chiclets, anyone?
4. niagara falls/canada. really pretty country. and COLD.

four of my favorite dishes
1. pizza. i could eat it every day.
2. crunchy rolls. shrimp tempura, crab, cucumber, rice. nothing wrong with that!
3. the hat's pastrami. mmmmmm, beef cheeks.
4. prime rib with all the trimmings at lawry's. ohhhh, creamed corn, how i love you.

four websites i visit daily (lately, "regularly" is more appropriate)
1. thesuperficial.com, for my celeb gossip fix
2. google reader
3. bofa.com - i'm anal about balancing my checkbook
4. edline.net - to keep an eye on how the kid's doing in her classes

four places i would rather be
1. maui
2. nyc
3. la jolla
4. anywhere with the (in no particular order) kid/bean/hub

i'm going to cheat on tagging 4 bloggers, mostly because i'm so way behind that everyone i blogstalk has already been tagged. sue me.

the wan-nabean has arrived!

yup, i obviously spoke too soon with my last post. shut up.

and just a warning: i'm about to give you [almost] a blow-by-blow account of monday morning's events. don't say i didn't tell you so. i'll try not to gross you out or freak you out, though. >:) i really want to see y'all spring forth from your loins someday too.

and really, this post is meant for me to tell my birth story while i still remember it in detail. it'll be fun to read it later on, should baby fever hit again or the bean does something to piss me off. heh. i swear to you, i had no warning that anything was going to happen. i really thought the bean wasn't going to make her grand entrance into the world for DAYS, like her sister, who took her sweet time and had to practically be dragged out of the womb.

so there i was, just kicking it in our new bed with the hub quietly snoring away. it'd been quite a weekend - all the furniture had arrived and the ikea dude had come and gone, leaving behind a fully assembled wall unit in the nursery. seriously, i should've taken it as a sign - all of a sudden, our house was all ready and furnished, and all that was needed was a baby!

i wasn't really sleepy, so i pulled up the tivo and started watching the season premiere of "desperate housewives". i'd just gotten to the part where bree's not-so-pregnant belly was getting repeatedly jabbed with a BBQ fork when i felt it - a strange little trickle coming from the nether regions. i hit "pause", laid perfectly still for a moment, and brushed it off - until it happened again. i shot straight up and accidentally flung the damn remote across the room, and the poor dog jumped about a foot up in the air when it came crashing onto the floor next to her bed. oops. sorry, molly. the hub blinked a couple of times and i blurted out "um, i think my water just broke."

the smile that came to that man's face lit up the room.
"really??"

he jumped right up, got dressed, and promptly began to organize the rest of the stuff that was still sitting in boxes on the floor in the nursery. and when the contractions began around half an hour later, he was right there making a list of the time each began and ended and how long they lasted. awww, he DID listen during childbirth prep class!

so, yeah - i finished watching "desperate housewives". and i was damn near all caught up on "general hospital" when we realized that the contractions were getting closer and longer. it was almost 3am by this time, and after making molly comfy in the sun room (her usual hangout when we aren't home), off we went. believe it or not, the stupid freeway was CLOSED.

we ended up going down some janky ass sidestreets, with me hee-hee-hee-hoo-ing all the way. those contractions were getting stronger and stronger, and i wondered if i'd be one of those women on the morning news, giving birth in their car on the way to the hospital.

but we made it - the hub circled the half-full parking lot at least once before i snarled "JUST PARRRRRRRK IT!" heh. and then it was fun trying to walk my ass from the car to the entrance to the ER. i had to stop and pant my way through the pain a few times before we finally made it in there.

"wheelchair!" the hub barked at the first orderly we came across. poor guy - he was loaded down with my two hospital bags, plus my snoogle pillow AND trying to get me situated. all without panicking himself. finally we were in an elevator, headed up to the third floor - the labor & delivery department. the nurse on duty had my paperwork ready fairly quickly (all the while carrying on a conversation with another nurse about somebody's stupid fundraiser and their upcoming halloween shindig) and sent me to the potty for a urine sample.

[gross tidbit alert]

i hauled my ass outta that wheelchair and locked the door behind me and another wave of pain hit. a few more hee-hee-hee-hoos, and i was good to go. i remember looking in the toilet and saying out loud "huh. so that's what a mucous plug looks like." bahahaha!

the nurse tried to settle me into a labor observation room first, getting a fetal monitor hooked up and handing me a lovely blue hospital gown (haute couture, lemme tell ya). but when i sat down to wait out yet another contraction, my water broke fo' real (i guess what i'd felt at home wasn't the real thing). she took one look and put me back in the wheelchair to take me into a birthing room. "this one's water just grossly ruptured. she hasn't got long to go" she said to a nurse in the hall.

grossly ruptured??

"no, no, i don't mean 'gross' like THAT. i just meant, you're a lot farther along than i thought", she explained to me. well hell, i feel much better. thanks, nurse wench.

so maybe you've seen those posters during health class or in the OB/GYN's office that show you the different stages of dilation - like, 2 cm looks like a bottle cap, 10 is like a bagel? no? well, when you get to 10 cm, that means you're ready to start pushin'. and when that nurse did an internal exam (oh, so fun), she announced that i was already at a 7-8.

WHAT?? where the hell is my anesthesiologist? i want AN EPIDURAL, dammit! give me some effing drugs!!

but nooooo. that process would take another hour or some crap like that, and according to nurse wench, "my guess is that you aren't going to be pregnant for another hour!"

[thud]

i. got. no. drugs. sonofamonkey.

i was going to FEEL every damn thing. good god a'mighty. now, the rest of the story is somewhat of a blur. after the nurse said that, the hub looked at me with the biggest, most excited eyes i've ever seen. "she's coming! can you believe it? we're finally going to get to meet her!!" i WAS excited. and terrified. because i knew what i was about to go through, and it wasn't gonna be pretty. and i wasn't gonna be medicated!

one more internal exam by the midwife, and i heard little bits and pieces of conversation:

"she's at 10."
"let's get everything set up."
"we're ready whenever you are."
"okay, hon (i HATE being called "hon"), on your next contraction, let's try a push."

i peeked at the clock and it was five minutes to four. and then that next contraction hit, and so it began. at one point, i heard someone say "the heartbeat's dropped." and all of a sudden the midwife was gone and a doctor took her place. i looked up and realized there was a whole team of folks (men and women) sitting there waiting, while i was laying there spread-eagled for all the world to see. oh, joy. i didn't have much time to be mortified, though, because the next contraction came and i was pushing again.

"put your hands under your knees and pull back, it'll help" the nurse told me. you want me to WHAT?? please, heffa. i can hardly breathe over here, let alone do fucking calisthenics.

and soon the happy sound of a steady, regular heartbeat came over the monitors and the team was dismissed. it was back to the hub, the doctor, and a couple of nurses. phew. i was a little freaked out at the idea of anything going wrong.

and through it all, the hub was at my side, encouraging, supportive, the best cheerleader i could have asked for. they'd put a mask on me to help send the bean lots of oxygen during the pushing, and i was so hot (not in the fun, sexy way) and sweaty (surprise, surprise). and he dove into that fully packed labor bag and found the little handheld fan - remember, the one that saved me during the labor day power outage? it helped so much, and he was so patient with my whimpering and whining. "WHY did we do this again?" i asked between panting, and he just cracked up.

so a few more contractions, a few more pushing sessions, and amazingly enough, out she came. they picked her right up and placed her on my tummy and the hub and i gazed at her in absolute awe. she took a breath and in an instant, we heard the proof of a very healthy set of lungs. we were both so overwhelmed at the rush of emotions, and the hub leaned over and gave me a kiss. "she's here!" he said, and we both sniffled and watched that gorgeous baby wiggle and wail. he got to cut the cord, and then they took her for weighing, measuring, cleaning, all the fun stuff.

time of birth: 4:17 a.m.
weight: 7 pounds, 6 ounces
length: 19 1/4 inches
apgar score: 8

yup, less than half an hour of pushing. this is drastically different from my birthing experience with the kid, who was a week late and had to be induced. labor with her was a total of about 10 hours, with 2 of that being pushing time. just incredible.

while the doctor tended to my...uh...clean-up, i watched as the nurse gave the bean her first bath, with the hub snapping away with both his cell and the camera. he started on our extensive call list and around 5:00, the visitors started to arrive. first was his grandparents and his brother, followed soon after by his parents. his folks KILLED me - they walked in and came right over to me, tears rolling down both their faces, and giving me hugs, saying "thank you so much, you look wonderful, we are so proud of you all."

soon afterwards, we were moved to a private postpartum room, where we stayed for the next day and a half. we were visited by my parents, my gram, and my good friend A and baby nathan.

the rest of the week was quite a whirlwind - trying to establish a routine, waiting for milk to come in, showing her off to visitors, and on friday getting to introduce her to her sister for the first time. it was the kid's week with her dad, and unfortunately she'd managed to catch a cold, so she didn't want to spread her germs until absolutely necessary.

and how is the kid doing with the bean? i'm happy to say that she seems to be getting closer and closer to being as in love with this baby as we are. as i predicted, once she got to see and hold her, her attitude changed and now she's always taking charge of the stroller when we go out, watching her little facial expressions, and enjoying being a big sister (although she won't admit it unless you hold a gun to her head). but don't tell her "you're gonna be doing a lot of babysitting!" or "wow, you'll be doing a lot of work from now on", because she hates that. as do i. i mean, i may ask her to do something now and then, but it's certainly not her job to be the designated babysitter.

and as i sat in church yesterday, with my wonderful husband on one side, my beautiful firstborn on the other, and holding my newborn daughter, i had to hold back tears of happiness more than once.

life is good, my friends. life is good.