I love.

I love this swing.
So does T.

I love it even more now because Seth tinkered with it and made it run off a plug instead of huge expensive D batteries.

I love that my husband likes to tinker.

I love that I found this picture on our camera today.
I love her face when she gets hungry.

I love this picture too.
I love that you can kind of see how her hairline goes down to her eyebrows.
I love my hairy baby.

And I love that face.

I am doing what I swore I wouldn't - posting 5 million pictures of my baby and talking about how adorable she is all. the. time.
I just don't have anything else to blog about.

Two Weeks Old

We've managed to keep her alive and mostly happy for two whole weeks!
Despite the sleep deprivation.

This is what we've been up to:

Sleeping.

Visiting with family.

Getting her first bath and NOT enjoying it.

More sleeping.

Making funny faces.

Not pictured: Copious amounts of eating and pooping.
(You're welcome.)

Happy Birthday Rachel!

Today is my SIL Rachel's birthday.
She just had a little girl 3 days ago, which I think is probably the best birthday present ever.
So I'm not even going to try and make this a fabulous blog post since I can't even compete.

Isn't this picture the best?
We went over to visit last night and put them in matching outfits but they didn't really want to cooperate with our picture-taking.
T isn't actually screaming/crying though. She's just yawning.

Happy Birthday Rachel!

The Birth Story

If you don't want to read this I'll summarize it for you: 

I am totally awesome and gave birth to a totally awesome daughter.

I should also mention that my "birth plan" was to go as natural as possible for as long as possible, and despite the crazy labor story I do not have any regrets about the decisions I made.

This is what happened:

Wednesday July 6 (Due Date) doctor's appointment: 

    Schedule an induction for Thursday July 14. 

    Spend the next week absolutely refusing to accept the fact that I will have to be induced.

Tuesday July 12 doctor's appointment:

    Talk to the doctor. Finally accept that I will be induced and not go into labor naturally.

Half an hour later:

   Go into labor naturally.

   Panic.

11:30 PM:

   Finally decide to go to the hospital when the contractions keep getting stronger.

12:00 PM:

   Arrive at hospital. Contractions stop getting stronger.

1:00 PM:

   Leave hospital. Contractions start getting stronger.

   Very funny, uterus. Very funny.

4:00 AM:

   Decide to go back to the hospital.

   I get to stay this time. 

   And show off my natural laboring skills. 

TWELVE HOURS LATER (Twenty-four since I officially started labor) at 4:00 PM:

   Plead for drugs.

7:00 PM:

   Plead for epidural. 

   I should mention that at this point I have been in transition for 5 hours. Typical time? 10 minutes - 2 hours.

   I told you, I'm awesome.

8:00 PM:

   Finally get epidural to work properly. It didn't cover my right side at first.

   Blessed blessed sleep.

9:15 PM:

  Push.

10:21 PM: Tessa!

I kept telling Seth throughout the pregnancy that my labor and delivery was going to be terrible because I had such a fabulous pregnancy. You know, just to keep things balanced.

Sometimes I hate it when I'm right.

But it was all so incredibly worth it.

The Babe with the Power

I suppose if you are ever on facebook you will have noticed that our family has peppered the internets with pictures and announcements of the birth of Tessa.
But I'm her mother, which means mine is the official announcement. (Right?)

Born 7-13-11

10:21 pm

7 pounds 9 ounces

20.5 inches long

Prettiest baby ever.

It looks like we're yelling at each other but we're not.

That'll come when she's a teenager.

With her Grandma and namesake.

Thanks for all the well wishes/congratulations/compliments/prayers for me during my 30-hour labor.

Yes. 30 hours.

Stay tuned for that story.

(Don't worry, it won't be gross. After all, my Dad reads my blog.)

Still Pregnant.

Yep.
I'm still waddling around.

My face does not accurately express the emotions I feel about this fact.

Apparently I am going to be pregnant FOREVER*.

I suppose this is my first lesson in being a parent: I am not in control. Baby is.

It's a miserable lesson to learn this way.

What did I get myself into?

*Not actually true, since I'm getting induced on Thursday if she doesn't show up before then.

Due Date

Today is my official due date.

Obviously I am still pregnant.

This is how I feel about the whole situation.

!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Seth

Today is Seth's birthday. He'll be 26.
For a while our friend Joseph and I tried to confuse Seth into thinking he was a year older than he really was, but in the end it just confused me as well so I had to stop.
He really is turning 26 today though.

Here are a few pictures that showcase some of my favorite things about Seth:

He loves to eat everything. I never have to worry about cooking something for him. I made a box of Rice-A-Roni the other day and he spent the entire dinner telling me how fantastic it was.
I think I used this picture last year for his birthday post too. Can you blame me? It is the best picture and I laugh hysterically every time I look at it.

How good you are with kids. This will come in handy soon because I just don't know what to do with babies.

That you were a hellion at the age of 4 and apparently got it all out of your system then.
Now you are pretty much perfect.
(Isn't this a great picture? Seth threatening to punch the photographer is the best part, of course.)

Happy Birthday Seth!