Party like it's your Birthday!

He has arrived! Not to sound like I gave birth to the Messiah or anything but it is a most exciting day. Miles was born today. He weighed 8 lbs 3 oz and was 20 inches long. Definitely glad that I had a C section. He is strong - he grabbed on to the nurse's gown as she took him from womb to bassinet and wouldn't let go. Got 9's on his APGAR score.
Norris is an amazing dad. He is so in love with his son. He has changed all the poopy diapers so far 3 meconium filled sticky pads.
As for myself I was so awed to see our little creation. I am tired so hard to express my feelings about him and becoming a mom without sounding like a cliche. He is a beautiful healthy miracle and life has become really wonderful today.

Night before Christmas

I'm so excited tonight. I feel like I did when I was little and it was Christmas Eve. We've been anticipating tomorrow since February and today was a flurry of activity, grocery shopping, cleaning, preparing. I'm supposed to go to bed and get a good nights sleep but that will not be possible. It's like Christmas knowing I get a present tomorrow. I know what I asked for - a healthy, sweet tempered wonderful baby, but I wonder what I'll get. What will my present look like? Act like? Smell like? Will he be contented or colicky? How big will this gift be? Due to my gestational diabetes I'm guessing big as is my doctor.
I was actually pretty grouchy for most of the day, kind of scared and worried about having surgery. But all that has passed and now it's 11pm and everything that can be done is done, bags packed for the hospital, house cleaned, gear set up and it's just time to dream and be excited about tomorrow's gift.

Countdown to babytown - 2 Days

It's like the Kennedy Space Center here in Valleybrook Manor. We are counting down, checking off all sorts of major to-do's and preparing for the biggest undertaking of our lives so far.

We have a scheduled C-section at 7:30am on Monday October 29th and things are buzzing, or more accurately I'm buzzing at Norris and things are getting done. My sweet neighbors are calling and stopping by to make sure everything is going well and have been so supportive and wonderful I already feel sad about leaving them.

Yesterday was a huge milestone for our family and Norris especially. He officially completed his residency and is now a board-eligible general surgeon. We went out with friends and had a little dinner for him then had our first bonfire of the season. It was a perfect night for sitting outside around a fire and we had a pleasant night drinking tea with Vincent and Ingrid and poking at the fire while Bella ran circles around us and the fire getting close but managing to not go up in a ball of flames.

This morning saw another round of baby goodie assembly as Norris put the Rainforest Swing - a gift from our generous friend Kurt - together without incident and earlier this week also assembled the Diaper Champ. We now have the capacity to bathe, change, diaper, sleep and rock the baby in two directions. We feel pretty ready for any needs he may have for vibrating sleeping spaces or mobiles with music or nature sounds as well.

So Miles, we say to you in the words of the current President, blithely and ignorantly "Bring it On!".

Baby Shower

So belated but I finally downloaded the pics from my baby shower almost a month ago - Sept. 25. Had the most wonderful shower hosted by my lovely neighbors Sonya Teider (left) and Amanda Turner (right) shown in the pics. Amazingly I realized that I had never been to a baby shower before my own. Was so fun having traditional gross baby shower games like identifying baby food and guessing the melted candy bar in the diaper. Norris was on call but came at the end to help haul away the years supply of clothes and furniture and toys we were given. Great time and very treasured memory.

Bella enters a pageant

Yesterday Norris and I took Bella to the mall for the annual Spooky Pooches Halloween Doggie Costume contest. Her costume was just a cheapie I put together - she was dressed as my obstretician, scrub top and cap and didn't place of course. However she showboated like she was Jon Benet and even the MC commented that the dog knew how to work a crowd. Met these mummy dogs who the MC thought had been in an accident and she had a good time hanging out with them and generally showing off and being photographed by everyone.

I can't say the judging was fair for this contest, it seemed that if your dog was in some way handicapped it would win a prize no matter how boring and store bought the costume - case in point the 3 legged great dane and paraplegic mystery dog who both had boring store bought costumes and almost won the whole thing. Norris teased that I'm a bitter stage mother and maybe he's right but I feel that home made costumes should get more points than store bought. A purchased victory is a hollow victory I say as I eat my biased sour grapes.

Monkey humping the proverbial football

Today I got to enjoy watching Norris put together the playyard that will serve as the baby's sleep and changing area at least until we get to Japan. He of course started out bravely enough without directions, just snapping things in where he thought they should go. When this quickly became a haphazard puzzle onto which no more pieces would fit he broke out the directions. Smoothly he sailed along, pieces assembling nicely, even playing the nursery music to help set the mood. Then we sat down to enjoy the finished product and found that he had one extra screw that he could not account for. Still can't account for this screw, directions say only 2 were needed and package had 3. Best we can figure is someone in the factory has a wicked sense of humor and decided to mess with the new parents. I threw out the extra screw. I hope this decision works out. The picture above is what we ended up with and are pretty pleased so far.

Our dog baby

Our dog Bella is currently the baby of the house and we've been wondering lately how she's going to react to the baby when he comes. She really is such a happy dog and is such a clown and a joiner. Norris grabbed me and started dancing with me in the living room tonight and she wanted to join in, circling us and barking, trying to get in on the action. She is a very tidy dog, she likes to have all her toys close together, not scattered about the house. Norris scattered her toys around the living room tonight- she had 5 out- and we watched as slowly she played with all of them and got them back to position, near her dog bed and within mouths reach.

Watching her operate in the house is a lesson on how to survive in a corporate environment. She is very good at kissing the ass above her and dominating the one below her - the cat. Of course as in any good middle manager, when caught with the cats head in her mouth she adopts a look of surprise and spits the head out immediately, looking at the cat with a blaming expression. Pace, for her part uses the opportunity to preen and stand her ground with upper management support whilst knowing that she will pay for this once Norris and I leave the vicinity.

3D ultrasound

Here's pictures of the baby at 31 weeks taken with the 3D ultrasound. Will be interesting to see whether he looks anything like this when born.

First post

So I'm almost 36 weeks pregnant and am starting this blog to chronicle the goings on with this pregnancy and this life as it unfolds. So much will occur in the next month. I have been sitting in the car lately thinking that by this time next month my life will be unrecognizable to me. And in a month past that I'm scheduled to live in a new country on the other side of the world. We've been told that we will be relocating to Japan instead of Las Vegas. Exciting under normal circumstances but at this point more like surreal.