Similarities?

the Girl at 10 days old













Baby Sister at 1 day old

A New Holiday to Celebrate!

In my previous post I mentioned that we were on the home stretch, what I didn't anticipate was that we were about to cross the finish line! Baby Sister was born this morning (two weeks early) at 3:40 after an uncomplicated labor that escalated quickly and was over before we knew it. She weighed in at 6 pounds 6 ounces and is 19 1/2 inches, has a head full of black hair like the Girl had and is healthy and BEAUTIFUL.

On the home stretch...

...literally. As of Sunday, Baby Sister is now officially considered full-term (37 weeks) and is welcome to come at any point. Especially as I don't know how much more stretching my skin is up for. I definitely shouldn't complain as I've had it pretty easy during this pregnancy as was the case when I was pregnant with the Girl. However, this time around my skin fell casualty to a stretch mark. Gasp!!! One lone stretch mark right above my "used-to-be-an-innie" belly button. This stretch mark seems to be ever increasingly widening and has now been joined by a companion. Again, I shouldn't complain, I know.

So, as I mentioned earlier, Baby Sister is welcome to come at any point...

- her room is finished (see previous post)
- boxes of diapers are stacked in the closet awaiting her arrival
- the Girl's old newborn clothes have been unpacked, sorted & washed
- a hospital bag has been packed
- arrangements have been made for the Girl to stay with friends
- there is a week's worth of homemade meals in the freezer
- the crib is assembled

Am I missing anything?

Baby Sister's Room

Baby Sister's room is finally complete! Walls are painted (thanks M!), base trim and chair rail have been cut, painted and installed, doors and door jambs have been replaced, outlets and switch plates have been replaced, a new light fixture has been hung and the carpet has been shampooed! J, the Girl and my friend did a terrific job, as for my contribution...I placed polka dots and decided what color they should be. I'm very lucky to have a husband and friend who put up with my 'supervision' role on this room.

As for the Girl, she's already asking if I think Baby Sister will want to trade rooms. Ha! Maybe in a couple of years.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

We are determined to take advantage of every single remaining day of nice weather before fall rolls in and so, on a day that was forecasted to be partly sunny and 78 degrees, we headed to a splash park with some friends. The sun never did show up, at least not until we were close to wrapping up and heading out and it surely wasn't 78 degrees but the girls did not let that stop them from having fun and getting wet. And, thanks in part to the cooler than forecasted temps and the fact that school is back in session, the girls had the entire water area to themselves.

Merry Maid

Who needs 'Merry Maids' when you have one of your own?! I was in the process of cleaning the bathroom this afternoon when the Girl came in and took an immediate interest in my pink rubber gloves, the blue water in the toilet and the toilet brush. Naturally, I let her go to town. The inside of that toilet got a thorough cleaning after about 15 minutes of sloshing and scrubbing. The Girl managed to transform a mundane chore into a frothy, bubbly delight. Hmmm, wonder what she'll want to help with next?

On another note, this evening the three (soon to be four!) of us were sitting on the couch and J asked the Girl if she was excited for her Baby Sister to come out. The Girl responded with, "Will her have hands?"

Big Helper

We spent the weekend transforming our very plain and barren 'guest bedroom' into Baby Sister's room. Of course when I say, "we" I mean my close friend (who've I known since grade school and who has helped me paint every other room in my house including the infamous stripes in the Girl's room), J and of course the Girl wanted to help too. As for me, I was overseeing the operation and in charge of color selection and design. Although we had high hopes of completing it this weekend it was not to be, but the Girl had a great time helping paint and didn't end up with too much on her skin or in her hair.

Bowl-O-Rama!

Earlier in the week we met up with our friends for some bowling. It was the first time that the Girl has ever been and she and her little friends had a blast, although it never takes much to keep the three of them entertained. As long as they're together, they're having fun. Anyhow, it was mid-afternoon and for the majority of our time there, we had the entire bowling alley to ourselves...which was probably a good thing for any other would-be patrons as there was a lot of running, screaming and dropping of balls going on. While the kids had their own lane, us big girls had ours and sadly the Girl bowled a better game with her 82 to my pathetic 69. The girls and I were joking around that a perfect score is 300, we couldn't even come up with that between the three of us!

And she's off!

What is that I hear? Nothing. Complete silence, a silence that is deafening. Just a mere half hour ago we dropped the Girl off for her first day of preschool and now I am home alone. Oh the plans I had for this time of complete and utter solitude. I should be taking advantage of the situation and working but I can't concentrate. Not to say that there aren't times of silence throughout the day around here because there are and I always relish them. But during those quiet times I am anticipating the next sound, the soft staccato of foot falls on the carpet as the Girl comes bounding down the hallway after a nap, or her sweet voice reading quietly from a book. Even the Disney Princess Ultimate Song Collection cd blaring from the radio in her room would be a welcome sound now, even though I usually shudder as soon as I hear those first notes of 'If You Can Dream.'

But I know that she is just 2 miles down the road in a familiar setting (our church) having fun and meeting new friends. She was excited to put on her name tag, find her seat at the table and immediately settled into writing on the chalkboard that was waiting for her. This is a day that she has been waiting for and endlessly talking about for weeks. She waved at her Daddy and I as we left the room and didn't even give us a second glance. When did she get so big?!

Over the river and through the woods...

...to grandmother's house we go! We spent the weekend with 'J's Mom and ended up at a theme park on Saturday. After her first taste of carnival rides a week earlier at the fair, the Girl was eager to ride again! Her favorite was the ferris wheel and her least favorite was a ride called Thunder Canyon. By all appearances, it seemed like a rather mild raft ride with some tiny waves...I guess we should've paid more attention to the name. As it turns out, there were a few sections of some pretty tumultuous rapids, a couple of drop-offs and a dark tunnel. Not to mention that the Girl happened to be sitting in the seat that somehow attracted the most water. By the time
the ride was over she was completely soaked and extremely unhappy. Luckily, we had a change of dry clothes on hand and it was the last ride of the day as the park was closing. As for me, I was grounded once again due to the fact that I am not "free of pregnancy" as stipulated by all of the signs posted at the entrance to the rides. Ha, ha!

A stroll down memory lane...

Last Friday we got up extremely early (for us - some of our friends, and you know who you are, are up this early all the time) and headed out on a road trip to visit our alma mater. It was where 'J' and I met (during our first week on campus), subsequently fell in love and four years later got engaged. Needless to say, the campus will always hold a special place in our hearts and we have many fond memories of our time there.

There has been and continues to be a lot of construction going on and there were several new buildings since the last time we visited two years ago. In addition the student union building was celebrating it's grand re-opening after a major renovation that lasted a couple of years. It looks great and has a much more contemporary feel on the interior than the outdated facility that we were used to. In fact, so much had changed that we had trouble remembering how it used to be and how the space was occupied before.


We walked all across campus and pointed out various buildings of interest to the Girl, such as the dorms in which we lived our freshman and sophomore years, the spot where 'J' proposed to me, etc. She was very unimpressed by it all and her mind was only on the ice cream cone that we had promised from Ferdinand's which is an ice cream parlor on campus that makes it's own ice cream (which is extremely yummy) as well as the famous Cougar Gold Cheese.

We walked through the lobby of the architecture building (pictured in the background of the top photo posted here), where I spent more time than any other building on campus including my dorm. In fact it was pretty much my home during my final semester, I had an air mattress, pillow and blanket set up under my desk in studio and toward the end of the semester only ever ran home to shower and change clothes. Anyhow, I was surprised to find a familiar model in the lobby, one that my classmates and I had built in
4th year. It was still mostly intact, just covered by 8 years
worth of dust.

We also ran into the school mascot, Butch, by chance and had the perfect opportunity for a family photo with him if it hadn't been for the Girl who pointed at him and screamed, "No!" as he was approaching us with a friendly wave. Ha, ha! I guess she's not big on life-sized furry creatures that walk upright.

Tired? part 2

Kids say the darndest things!

Last Friday afternoon the Girl and I were sitting on the couch waiting for J to get home from work and talking about the Baby. The conversation went like this:

the Girl: "When the Baby comes out she's going to talk to me."
Me: "She won't be able to talk for a while, she'll probably cry a lot and when she gets a little bit older she'll start making cooing sounds."
the Girl: "Coo. Coo. That's Spanish for 'Hold me.'"

the Flood

Last night as I was lying in bed I was overcome by a flood of emotion - feelings of sadness and guilt - as I realized that in a matter of just six weeks, the Girl will no longer be our only child. For the past 1120 days she has had sole ownership over our undivided attention and has been the whole of our hearts. From the moment we first laid eyes on her she became the reason for our existence. Now she will no longer be able to lay claim to that coveted advantage of the first-born.

Not to say that I'm not whole-heartedly looking forward to meeting this new life that has been growing inside of me because I definitely am. I'm just worrying about what it means for the Girl and how she'll react to having to share our affections. I never intended for her to be an only child, at least not for more than a few years and I could never imagine her growing up without siblings.

In the same vein, I feel like the Baby will be cheated as she will never experience what it is like to be the only child and to have all of our attention and affection focused only on her. Sigh. Oh well, I never had that opportunity either and I'm assuming that most people would agree that I turned out to be a decent and kind individual.

That being said, I'm sure that the root of all my fear and worry stems from hormones, in fact I know it does as I cried watching 'Deal or No Deal' when last night's contestant became the first to win a million dollars. Seriously, tears streaming down my face.

Go COUGS!

Cougar Pride

Before the game
Sharing some cotton candy or 'hot n candy' as the Girl calls it
A case of cotton candy tongue and teeth
Wash it all down with some lemonade...
...that tastes extremely sour after several handfuls of nothing but pure, refined sugar!

On Saturday we had tickets to see our beloved Cougars take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys. We found cheap parking - only $10 for the entire day in a lot not very far from the stadium. Our seats were fantastic -12 rows up from the field and on the 40-yard line. The weather was amazing - somewhat warm, blue skies and sunshine with not a drop of rain. The company was familiar - nothing like being surrounded by fellow Cougs in a sea of crimson. The Girl was happy and easily entertained - her eyes hardly strayed from the cheerleaders, that is, when she wasn't playing musical laps despite having her own seat. Unfortunately, the final score was forgetable and not exactly the debut statement that I'm sure the new coach was hoping to make. However, all was not lost as the game wasn't a shut-out and there were some bright shining moments when the Cougars made some good plays...they were just few and far between. Throw in the chance encounter of running into an old classmate and dear friend (she was a bridesmaid in our wedding) and the conditions made for an 'almost' perfect day. Good, bad or ugly we will always root for our COUGS!!!