Last week Adalyse got to decorate pumpkins, dress up for Halloween with her mommy and daddy as they handed out candy to 3 trick-0-treaters…(sad I know), stay at home with daddy while mommy went to the store by herself, go for walks in the baby bjourn, eat from her first bottle with daddy (and a bottle with Aunt Ayasha later), play in her jungle gym, play with Atlas (a.k.a. Nana) visit with Elizabeth and Jesse  and meet her Aunt Ayasha (Nina)!

To view the slide show click on any picture below!

One of our friends and neighbors is a professional photographer.  He came to our house and setup all his lighting and stuff in Adalyse’s nursery.  It was cool to be able to use the nursery like that and get some great shots.

Thanks John and Robin for the great shots – to view more of John’s photography and get contact information, visit his website:

http://www.vzphotography.net

Click on any image to start the slide show:

One of the cool things they do at SkyRidge is have a contract with Bella Baby photography.  Bella Baby comes into your room (if you want) when your baby is 1 day old and takes pictures.  We got very fortunate and they happened to come when Adalyse was at a very alert state and we got some great pictures.

Click on any image to start the slideshow:

Today, October 21st 2011, our little girl is a week old!

She has already experienced so many first experiences ranging from the first drive home, bath, family walk, birthday party, eating out at a restaurant and more. She is such a bundle of joy and we look forward to a lifetime of adventures!

There is always talk about the soon-to-be mommy nesting but never have I heard much about the soon-to-be daddy nesting. Adam has been an amazingly supportive and helpful husband! He is my dream husband come true! I love this man, but that amount of love is so outstanding that there are no words to express truly how much I appreciate and love him! He is going to be an amazing father….

Adam so far has replaced the tile in our shower, filled the cracks and re-surfaced our drive way, dug out and re-filled our sidewalk,  fixed the leaky faucets in the upstairs bathroom, fixed the grout on our downstairs shower, cleaned the outside of our windows, set off bug bombs, had our vents and furnace cleaned, set mouse traps, helped with laundry and vacuuming, hung our pictures, made dinner multiple times (most of the time recently), taken my car in to get fixed and vacuumed, attended childbirth and breast feeding classes, rubbed my feet and back when I need it, patched holes in walls, installed an AWESOME closet for Adalyse’s room, cleaned and brushed the dogs, every day yard work and cleaning up dog messes….

Along with the sexy list of helping activities he has also continued to work on his projects for businesses and maintained his health (love it!) and some how still been able to give me his time for holding and loving me! WOW! He is supporting me so much to make sure I do not overwhelm myself with stress, pain and strain while I continue to teach at LMS up until “D” day! You rock!

Thank you my prince for your heart of gold, I love you and can’t wait for our little girl to meet the coolest dad ever!

I love you!

This evening Adam and I completed our second of four childbirth classes. Over four weeks from 6-9pm we will meet with 10 other couples and learn about what happens during labor mentally and physically. We will and have already learned techniques for pain management, to prolong and diffuse pain for as long as possible, tour the hospital, and what to expect through each phase. So in other words, learn control strategies to have as normal of a birth as possible. Adam and I both have decided and agree strongly that there will be no medications. We want as normal and natural of a birth that we can. Call us crazy but the benefits to pain management and mind over body control seems so much healthier for mom and baby. The instructor this evening, who is completely supportive to our decision, told us that these days the nursing programs don’t teach pain management and birthing techniques. Unfortunately they learn the mechanics for the technology and for the medications but not the breathing or movement strategies for mothers to apply if they want a smoother experience. And we wonder why our medical system is so messed up.

Granted we want a natural experience but we are not going to be chanting and beating drums dancing in circles in the forest (good ‘ol yoga DVD from the 90′s). We just want the body  to go through the process and help our little girl come into the world quickly and healthy….(psst! You did realize that the medications do prolong the labor and cripple your ability to move on your own….um, movement helps your body make room for the baby to come out….and who wants to be numb from there chest to their legs to avoid a short couple of hours of controllable pain, creepy!). Most epidurals lead to C-sections….hm, weird!

Okay, okay, I’m done.

Class was great! Adam got to practice more calming massage techniques while I practiced breathing and relaxing! Perfect after a long day at work! We have met some wonderful couples a few weeks behind us (yeah we’re the furthest along) and we are learning a great deal about how amazing the human body is. We, to be expected, are the one of the few couples with a sense of humor and find ourselves smiling and laughing/giggling during the videos. We’re looking forward to our tour of Sky Ridge Hospital next week, after Oct. 1st Kaiser clients are allowed to go to Sky Ridge instead of St. Joseph’s hospital downtown for labor. Woo hoo! Gotta love new facilities. We love to have fun and love that our little family is so close to starting….only FIVE weeks away!

Had a blast at Aunt Gail’s today with so many wonderful friends and family members for the Denver Baby Shower.

Today, being the second day of school after a short summer break (ugh), Adam picked me up from school at 2:40 to go to our 2:50 appointment off of Arapahoe and Holly (my school is near Smokyhill and Buckley)….oops! Luckily my super hero-like husband has some speed racing skills and got us to the clinic right at 2:57. I just had to close my eyes here and there to avoid too many “freak out” reactions. Mind you he was super safe and wouldn’t go too crazy! If you are more than 10 minutes late they will no longer see you and you have to reschedule….whew! The same lady that gave me this “lecture” last time was there to remind me of their protocol once again (double oops). At least she was very nice and didn’t make me feel too bad.

Immediately after we checked in and I completed my lovely “pee in a cup” sample they were ready to complete all the routine check ups. Blood pressure: 115/159= very good, weight: 143 lbs= good (to me not so good but that’s only because normally I weigh much less….luckily this is temporary!), baby measurement: 31 inches=PERFECT and RIGHT ON TRACK!, baby heartbeat: Perfect, has the heart beat of a very happy baby! The doctor also checked to see how the baby was positioned via my request and she told us she is nice and snug, exactly where she needs to be…oh and that I have really nice and tight abdomen muscles (thank you Insanity!!)

It is difficult, and Adam and I knew this would be from the beginning, because everyone wants to make conversation so they share their experiences or “knowledge” by making comments that could make one feel like something might be wrong if their experiences are different. I have had SEVERAL comments about how small I am for being 32weeks and how low my belly looks. Then there are the books that talk about “normality” and “caution signals”.So I have had moments of slight concern (very slight) but hearing from the doctor that we are doing awesome and right on track for a “Normal O/B” schedule is just the right anecdote for new parents! So for the moms to be….take family and friend comments with a grain of salt, if you feel good and you’re taking care of yourself then you are fine! Be appreciative and enjoy the process as much as you can! We are glad that our doctor is realistic and understanding…and has gone through pregnancy herself!

With no other questions or concerns we said our goodbyes and went to the front office to schedule the REST of our appointments. Can you believe it, 8 more weeks and 3 more appointments, 4 if she is late…

On the way back home we called customer service to get a good idea of how much we should expect to pay when we go to the hospital to plan accordingly. Please “soon to be parents” make sure you look into this, it is DIFFERENT for everybody. We now know and expect to pay both deductibles to equal about $1750 for just the 48 hours or so they connect with labor. So far we have only paid $10 for an informational class and that’s it. This can make it real tempting to assume that there won’t be any expenses at all…after 7 1/2 month of no fees. Next we’ll need to look into adding our little goober onto our health plan and what those costs will be then get our wills updated before she is born as well.

So much to think about and only 8 weeks to go…..