Halloween

Happy Halloween!

Today's notable events:

JB carved the above pumpkin. According to a trick-or-treater, "That's tight!"

I took the Bird in to get weighed. 10 lbs. 1 oz. My baby book says that on average they gain 6-8 oz. per week. The Bird has surpassed that. She is giant. She is heavy. But she still isn't as big as her Uncle Austin when he was born. I look at Olivia and think, "Marian gave birth to something larger than this. Good Lord!"



After getting weighed, Marian, Olivia and I had lunch at Marie Caltrib's, which is this awesome Lebanese-ish restaurant near my house. I had never been there before and was excited to finally try it out. It's wonderful. While there we were seated at the table next to a local TV anchor, the famous Suzanne Geha. For those of you who live around here, you know how dramatic WoodTV news can be and how crazy some of the headlines that Suzanne reads are. JB said that if Suzanne had seen Olivia (she glanced at her carseat but did not peek inside), we'd see Suzanne on TV tonight with this headline: "The cutest baby IN Grand Rapids!! Tonight at 11!" Suzanne would have felt Olivia was the cutest baby because a.) she is, and b.) I think that Suzanne has birdish features, so she'd feel an instant kinship with Olivia when she learned her nickname is "the bird."

Ugh.

I've been wanting to blog for soooo long.

But my days haven't consisted of very interesting material. Here is my day:

Baby, baby, baby, breakfast, baby, screaming crying baby, barely remember to brush my teeth, baby, crap--forgot to put on deodorant!, hold sweet baby, crying baby, back to sweet baby as long as I'm holding her, feed the poor dog, let dog out to pee, baby, sleep for 2 hours, screaming crying baby, Why am I so starving? Wait! I haven't eaten in 5 hours!, feed baby, wash baby, wash load of baby laundry, try to do 30 minutes of house cleaning, baby, cuddly sweet baby, baby, wolf down dinner while JB holds fidgety baby, take a shower, watch annoying political ads on TV, baby, ...

blah, blah, blah.

Fortunately, baby is cute, as evidenced here:

Some day, I will have something non-baby to post. I really thought that I would garner some material tonight, as it was our annual Bible Study Pumpkin Carving party. But this beloved sweet baby chose 7-8:30 to have her daily crying fit (thank you Lord, that it wasn't 2-5 a.m. like usual!) so I did not get to a.) have fun with my friends or b.) carve a pumpkin, because I was upstairs with Olivia. Poor Kelly also went home early because her 10-month-old was in a bad mood.

At least I got to take photos afterward! Good job, carvers!

My little bird

I thought I'd usher in my return to blogging with some reflections on my newest present: Olivia. I will probably blog some other time about the actual labor and hospital stuff (don't worry--I will spare the gory details). For now, though, we'll just focus on the positive. haha.

I love Olivia.

She does not have her daddy's beautiful red curly hair, but she does have pretty dark hair which is better than being a blond baldini like I was as a baby. They say that her dark hair could some out and change to something completely different in a few weeks--if it does, I hope for her sake that it is thick or curly or something nice. She does have her daddy's cute round face and expressive mouth. She also has chubby cheeks, which help her to look full and fat. She has my eyes and nose and someone's proportionate forehead (I have a tall forehead and I like that Olivia's is regular). Her fingers are really long (like Grandma Marian and Great-grandma Teague)--she's totally getting piano lessons!--as are her feet. Olivia is kind of long in general--she was born 22 inches and when she saw the doctor on Friday, when she wasn't even a week old, she was 22 3/4 (though perhaps she's just learning to stretch out better). She also gained over 2 ounces in that time, which the doctor was impressed with. He said that babies usually lose 5-10% of their birthweight in the first two weeks. Not my porker! (This is exceptionally impressive seeing as I had a lot of trouble getting the nursing thing down for the first few days, and as of Monday previous she had lost a half ounce.)

When I was first holding Olivia in the hospital she reminded me of a little bird. Her hair is soft and fluffy like a baby chick's. She likes to form her mouth into a little "O" shape whens she's hungry, which reminds me of a nestling who is waiting for its parent to drop a vittle into its mouth. And when she cries her little raspy voice sounds like a softly squawking duck.

We are very blessed with Olivia, as she is very healthy and sweet. The doctor even used the word "perfect" to describe her. Heh heh heh. He also said that there are two types of babies: grunters and spitters. Olivia is a grunter, which I'll take any day over spitting. After I feed her, she does not spit up all over the place. She does not shoot nastiness across the room like some moms have told me that their babies do. Instead, she grunts and belches. She can sleep through anything, as evidenced just now when Lucy started barking insanely loudly, about 5 feet from Olivia. I just looked in at her and she's still conked. She also is not colicky and does not have reflux, which makes babies and parents miserable because of constant crying.

For those of you who do not have children, I have been told that all babies have a fussy time of day. I think it's usually around supper time. There is nothing wrong with them, but they still cry a lot as a way of letting off steam. Well, if I had to name one drawback of my little bird, it would be that she is a night owl just like her mom and dad, and chooses her uncontrollable screaming time for 2-5 a.m. Ugh! Seriously, she will NOT stop crying for more than 30 seconds at a time. I always take care of her at this time and it's quite exhausting, especially since we've had a steady stream of visitors since she came home and I do not have the opportunity to sleep during the day.

Thank you God, that Olivia is so wonderful that I don't mind suffering with her! :)

As a side note, I need to give props to all the people who guessed her name: Tommy, Melissa, Jess, Cheryl and Brenda from work, Kelly (I think I recall that David said you picked Olivia), etc. The big award goes to Olivia's Uncle Tommy, who not only figured out the name, but had supporting evidence to go with it, such as it first being used by Shakespeare in Twelfth Night and it going with our family tree--Granny Olive (and the May is for Granny Maybelle, Grandma Karen May, and me!). Ironically, I tried calling him first when she was born, but he had just left for Cancun and could not get voicemails. Sorry, brother, that we did not have her sooner!

Olivia May: baby model

By popular demand, a better baby pic...



April and Olivia are good and will be home tomorrow afternoon. I'm geeked!

She's HERE!!!

Everyone welcome Olivia May.

Born: 10-11-08 5:30pm
Weight: 8 lbs 13 ounces
Length: 22 inches

After sixteen hours in the hospital Olivia was evicted from April's womb. Both baby and mom are doing great, dad too. More pictures to follow after I make my way out of this delirious haze.

ED Day +5

Today was my last day at work before I take my maternity leave. It was so hard to go! I've never left work for more than a week (for vacation) and now I'm going to be gone 6-7 weeks.

Almost all of my coworkers are women and moms, and they have been tremendously helpful to me during my pregnancy. As I announced that I was leaving everyone got up from their cubicles to bid me good-bye and wish me luck. It was so sweet.

It's going to be so weird to not work for 6 weeks. I've been working since I was 15 years old. I've never had this much time off.

Yeah, yeah--I know that I'll be busy with a screaming mimi (please don't be a screaming mimi, baby! please!) but it'll be weird to not have to report somewhere every day. To not have contact with the world's workforce or have to put on a uniform/pantyhose.

Hmm, wait a second...the no-pantyhose part actually sounds appealing...

ED Day +4

The waiting is the hardest part
Everyday you get one more yard
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part.

-Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Still waiting...

The OB scheduled an induction date for 6am next Wednesday. I was gunning for today, 10-9-8. We'll see.

btw, all you small grouper friends are awesome. Thanks for the visit and thanks for your generosity. We're glad you are all in our lives!

ED Day +3

So I'm going to try to post on this every day until baby comes so that readers can rest easy--if I've posted a blog entry, I'm obviously not in labor! :)

We have received so many wonderful gifts for our child--it's overwhelming how generous people are! As I got the baby room ready this last weekend, I decided to take a photo of some of my fav things that baby H will get to enjoy.

There are homemade items (like the blankets), unique used things found in a second-hand store or something (Seuss book and Kittens book), and bitchin' clothes.

Most of the homemade items are on the left. I would like to give props to the people who made something, as I understand the time and love that went in to them:

• Pink and white blanket: Andrea
• Green and White blanket (Go STATE!): Heather P.
• Yellow blanket: Beth's mom
• Pink knit hat: Grandma Hunt
• Striped bolero sweater (isn't it the bomb?!???): Lizzy from London
• White sweater: Mom Marian
• Pink bibs: Sarah D.
• Burp cloths with blue and brown ribbon: Jess F.
  

Thank you to all who have helped us get ready for this kid. We couldn't have done it without every single one of you!!

ED-Day +2

Hmmm…everyone seems to be on pins and needles here about this baby. Everyone except for me! :) I am looking forward to a lazy week of occasional vacuuming and therapeutic crocheting and do not anticipate a baby soon.

(On the crocheting note, do any siblings want me to crochet them something for Christmas? I am obsessed with crocheting right now. Well, I can only figure out blankets or other square-shaped things right now—like I think I could work out a scarf or maybe a hot pad. Annie has requested a Prada skirt—yeah, not sure about that one, but it’s nice that she thinks I could have the skills for it.)

Back to the baby update:

I saw the doctor today and the baby is pretty content right now, with little intent to leave. On Friday they will do a non-stress test thingy and give me a shot to get the party started. If she hasn’t read her eviction notice by next Wednesday, the doctor will take things into his own hands by inducing.

Sooo…don’t get too excited for baby news this week. You can get back on those pins and needles this weekend. Haha!

My money is on Sunday or Tuesday. Ever since I learned I was pregnant, I had picked Oct 12 for her birthday. No reason. Just felt right. However, Tuesday is the full moon, and even though there is no scientific evidence to support it, I believe the old wives’ tale that more babies are born on a full moon. I’m sure they talk about it in my crazy old Foxfire books somewhere…

ED Day +1

It's one day past the estimated delivery day.

All day yesterday I was on edge. Whenever April made a comment about aches or baby movement I immeadiately asked if it, labor- of course, was starting. April has a OB appointment Tuesday and if the baby hasn't arrived they will schedule an inducement date. I've got mixed feelings about inducement. It would be nice to have a "concrete" date that the baby will arrive, but it puts more stress on the baby. Either way, by ED Day +12 baby H will be out and about.

Enough waiting. I'm ready for this fatherhood business.

Jesus Thong Room

Before we owned our Calvin house the back bedroom belonged to the teenage son of a single mom. They didn't have a lot of money, so he used what resources he could scrape up when it came to decorating his room: posters and magazine pages of his favorite role models. Well, and just plain old models.

Oh, and a random image of the Cross.

When our friends the Ficks saw the photos of his room, Jess dubbed it the Jesus Thong Room. (And no, I don't mean the thong you'd wear on your foot.) On one side you have the Cross hanging serenely between the basketball mega-stars of the day, showing off their rippling muscles as they drive the ball in for a slam dunk. On the other side you have... THONG TIME! And boob time. Thigh time. Basically, hot chicks.

Who would have thought that one could combine the two into the same space? Well, I guess you could, but who would want to? This teenage boy, I guess.

Since then JB and I have altered the room a little. Jesus is still welcome in the room (though he doesn't appear on any wall) but we had to let the thong ladies go. This house only has room for one hot chick, and I already got that job.

Notice the improvements we have made. Particularly the floor. And the nice clean doorknob. When these people painted their rooms they did not use drop cloths. And they didn't bother to try to wipe up any messes, either. Unfortunately, their painting indiscretions on the windows are not viewable, but they basically painted all over the panes of glass and never scraped them. They also never cleaned the windows, so you couldn't really see out of them. I cut them some slack on the house's condition because they were poor, but these little things I just listed can be done for FREE. And the whole house was like this. Agh!

The room has morphed into guest room and now baby/kid's room, but I'll always remember it as the Jesus Thong Room.

What if six year olds could vote?