aleida marian

she's here! and by 'here' i mean outside my belly! I am grateful. And she is perfectly amazing. she is super relaxed and calm. She gnaws on her hands when she's hungry rather than immediately crying. So, she hasn't cried since being home. And in the hospital, she cried when a nurse with cold hands picked her up, or she didn't like being poked - all very good reasons to wail. She spends a lot of time sleeping (in her bassinet or in someone's arms). She does open her eyes and look around. She has spent some amounts of time totally content and awake. But usually she's sleeping. Except in the wee hours of the morning. Last night she really was not content being alone in her bassinet, and she really wanted to eat all night! I was glad that she wanted to eat, but certainly I did not love having to be awake for it. I was tired. I am curious about how she'll be tonight. Perhaps 3-6 am is her choice wakeful time right now.

Well that is probably a whole lot of random information. I am pretty tired but I did want to put out a little information about our sweet little girl!

Oh! We can't forget to say that Owen is awesome with her! He is very intrigued by her and he is super gentle and sweet with her. He'll walk over to her little chair, or where ever she is, and talk to her is a soft high voice (the way most people address babies). He likes kissing her on the forehead.

Some details: arrived at 9:53 pm on Fri, November 13. She weighed in at 8 lb 8 oz, and measured 21" long.

And now some more pics.


*a couple days before she was delivered.



This is before she was cleaned up, and right after the drops in her eyes (which explains their glossiness).

dancing and zerberts?

well last night we thought we were close to having this baby. i've been having contractions on an off, and they're all getting stronger (to put this in a time frame: i've been having this for about 2+ weeks). Because a contraction is not a new thing, I try not to think anything of it. Last night though, for about 3 hours, I was having regular 1 min uncomfortable contractions every five minutes. Since they weren't progressing, we thought we'd see if we could sleep. And alas, we did sleep and there is still no baby. And so -- we wait. And I don't know if I should start counting contractions until they're unbearable. She will come out, I know that. I guess I'll just be overly hopeful while we wait.

Owen and I danced around to fun music this morning - partly because it's fun, and also because I thought it was just one more thing I could do to encourage this baby to come out. It was enjoyable, and felt good to move. Then, after Owen inquired about why she wasn't coming out yet, I told him to talk to her about this. And to give her some zerberts - that would surely encourage her to come out. He thought this was a good and very funny idea. He does love giving zerberts. And really, can one blame him?

today's agenda

Well, Ry works all day today. I want to make sure Owen and I stay busy to thus keep my anxious self amused.

It's a beautiful day today - or at least it looks really nice. It could be super cold for all I know, but at least it is bright and sunny out there.

As soon as my load of laundry is done, I think Owen and I are going to walk to the park. We haven't been to the park in a little while and I think it will be good for both of us to be out in the fresh, sunny air. Then I want to make granola. That's all the activity that I can come up with until it's time to make supper.

Any ideas on what a very pregnant lady with a three year old should do to pass the time?

--

So we walked to the park and had a really wonderful time. It was super warm out- no mits, toques or scarves were needed!

I didn't make granola after all, but I enjoyed a quiet afternoon of relaxing, and I got some cleaning done. It is really nice to be able to stay on top of household duties right now as I feel like that is not something I will be able to do very well once the baby arrives!

Here are some pics of our time outside.

no news is . . . well, no news.

The phrase 'no news is good news' isn't applicable here. Today is baby girl's due date but she, so far, has made no moves to remove herself from me. I suppose there are good things about this, such as I have really been enjoying this time with Owen and trying to be really intentional with him as I know that doing that over the next little while will be more difficult. And Ry and I have been able to do some 'together' things as a result of her not arriving yet. However. We're finding sleep difficult. My mind is constantly busy and it is hard to turn it off. I am far too aware of what my body is doing and it isn't that I jump to conclusions but rather it's that I hope too strongly. And yet: i do know that this baby will arrive - I'm sure of that. I just need a little more patience around that truth.

Ry and I had a lunch date yesterday, as Erin took Owen to the Children's Museum. He was very excited to go with Erin and Lily, I don't think the Museum had much to do with his excitement - even though he does love it there. So, they left, and Ry and I decided to do lunch together at Trotters, a great local yummy place. We had a good meal together then we topped it off with a round from Cahoots Coffee Bar. I had their most delicious hot chocolate and Ry had coffee. Then we spent the afternoon, back at home with Owen napping, just visiting with Erin. It was a good low key day that finished with the Siggelkows gathering over supper to celebrate the fall birthdays. It was really nice to see everyone, eat together, and converse about life and such.

Anyway, I don't have a whole lot to update on. I just wanted to put in a post here to confirm that she has not yet arrived.

I was thinking of whether we had any new photographs to post, and I guess that I haven't yet posted our halloween pictures. So, here they are. Ry and I went to Daryl and Sandy's halloween party and Owen went with Erin, Ben and Lily to a different party. We all had a fun time!

I was a tree with an owl in a 'hole' or whatever.
Ry dressed like a t.v. character (Jim Halpert from 'The Office') did for his office halloween party: 'Facebook'
Owen dressed like a farmer. A bearded farmer, of course.

she's already a part of things

it made me so excited to soon see owen as a big brother when this morning, as he was jumping on his bed and singing a song about our family, his little baby sister was given mention along with mama, dada and owen. he's such a great kid!

i'm surprised at how well he is understanding the concept of 'sister' and of a new baby soon coming into our family. i certainly am expecting that the real, physical presence and sound of a baby, day after day may not be so easy for him to embrace, but he's entering into the situation with a great attitude. He's felt her move in my belly a couple different times, now. He thinks it's really funny. And I am grateful that it has worked to have him feel her 'knee' or 'elbow' as it really proves the fact that there's a baby in there! well, proof beyond my still-growing massive belly and my gradual inability to do regular things easily (like move from sitting on the floor to standing up).

we're all doing well, and we're quite aware the the official due date is nearly a week away. come on little one!

fun times for all

ry and i were treated to some time to ourselves this week! first came wednesday evening, where friends Jessie and Justin took Owen for a couple of hours so that Ry and I could check out our friend's new place, 'the anchor fish and chips'. it's an irish fish and chips place - absolutely delicious (best we've ever had) and they do guiness right, too. it's all really yummy and tactfully done. We had a nice time out together.
Then, Sunday afternoon Erin, Lillian and Ben took Owen home with them. Ry and I were then off for an overnight stay in downtown Saint Paul. We thought - we never have the opportunity to stay and hang out all night on our city! so we decided to drive a wee distance from home to enjoy our own city. And we had a fantastic time. It was really refreshing to just be with one another outside all our usually commitments. It took me back to the times we used to share on a daily basis, way back when we first met! No kid, no finances, no jobs, etc. There's a little old towboat on the mississippi river, downtown saint paul, that now operates as a bed and breakfast (www.covingtoninn.com). We spent the evening walking around saint paul, dined at a place called Senor Wong, and tried to get dessert at a nice little cafe but it was closed. we ended up walking A LOT which was great and part of what i wanted to do, but we kindof set ourselves up for a lot of extra walking. It was a good time together. Monday morning, then, we went a nice tea shop, sampled some and purchased some. We went into bookstores . . . we did things we can't easily (or enjoyably) do with a 3 year old.














The great thing about of all this, about our fun times, is that Owen had really awesome times, too! He loved his time away and didn't really want to come home with me when pick-up time rolled around. We're glad he likes his time away from us. He'll have more Lillian sleepovers soon.

he can sing the whole song, really.