This Week in Parenthood...

Baby: He opened his eyes for the first time. He lost a whole pound, but gained 8 ounces back. He was a little jaundice, but nothing that the pediatrician was concerned about. He's struggling with breastfeeding (I was told he was a hand-sucker in the womb, so that apparently makes him want to kill me every time I try and feed him.) He works pretty hard to pick that head up and in doing so, makes the best little grunting noises.

Parents: Wiped out (!) and trying to cope with the fact that we will no longer be able to use our weekends to catch up on sleep. We are getting used to our new schedule... or lack thereof. Loving on the little guy as much as possible. Celebrated his first pooh (my, how our priorities have changed!) Appreciating all the love and support we've received.

Mom's Thoughts: I lost all the baby weight already, but my body sure ain't what it used to be. My regular jeans don't fit yet. The weird thing is that it doesn't bother me that much (not yet anyway). Even with the stretch marks and the saggy belly, I feel more beautiful than ever. I feel really proud of myself and even shocked that I'm capable of doing this.

Plus my feet look freakin' fantastic!

Baby's Here!

More to come, but just had to share the news.

Little Stevie P

Born December 23rd, 2010

6:44am

7 lbs 0 oz., 19 1/4 inches long

I am smitten, overwhelmed, exhausted... but most importantly, amazed at what I have experienced and learned in just the last few days.

Ain't he delish???!

Finns, False Labor, & Christmas Spirit

What a week we have had here in little ol' Burbank. My cousin and his girlfriend from Finland came to visit for about 10 days, so I did my best getting them to see all Southern California has to offer - which mostly meant that I dropped them off places and let them sightsee, while I went home and put my swollen feet up.

See what I mean??! My husband calls them loaves of bread and we can't help but laugh.

Last weekend while it was toasty warm, we took the Finns to Santa Monica and some of the beach areas. They thought it was so weird to see Christmas decorations and ice skating in 89 degree weather, but seemed to really enjoy the sunshine (while it lasted). They also spent time at Universal Studios, Disneyland and touring Hollywood on one of those double decker buses. Once the weather started cooling off, I spent a little time with them at the Griffith Park Observatory and the giant mall. When we started getting full-on rain, we went to the movies, out to eat and more shopping. I honestly don't know what else you do here when it rains! But they really seemed to enjoy their time in L.A. and I'm so glad we got to see them. They are now off in Utah to spend Christmas with the rest of my family, so I know they'll have a nice time re-cooperating and relaxing there.

Last night, we trudged out in the rain and had our annual Christmas party with all of our friends. It was such a great evening. Lots of food, lots of laughs, silly santa hats and a gift exchange. I think we've been doing these parties since 2006, so its really become a fun tradition. It was the first time this holiday season where I have felt like Christmas was upon us. Its been a little harder getting in the spirit this year because I haven't decorated the house and I did most of my shopping online to avoid waddling through the crowded stores. Plus we don't really have any plans for the holiday. So it was really nice to put on a little glitter and sit near a Christmas tree. I wish I had some pictures, but (GASP!) my camera is a little broken right now. Grrr...

Well I did get a picture of my "Ho Ho Ho" santa hat. Totally inappropriate but funny, no?

After the party, I slept soundly with a full belly until about 2am. Got up to pee and felt a LOT of pressure in my pelvic area, but that's not exactly anything new, so I went back to sleep. However, randomly through the next couple hours, I would wake up with really bad cramps in my stomach and my back. I think at about 4am, I finally got up and started watching the clock, just in case the pains became more regular. They never really did, so I knew I wasn't in labor. The pains finally subsided around 6am, so I went back to bed. They would pop up again every once in awhile and hurt bad enough to wake me up, but not bad enough to be contractions. So that was a mean little trick! And it made me nervous! As much as I feel like I'm ready to not be pregnant anymore, its still weird thinking once I go into labor I will have an actual BABY to take care of! But hopefully the false labor was a sign that I'm progressing in the right direction.

Today I'm just relaxing, haven't had any more pains. But enjoying a quiet, VERY rainy day with Gadoo, the Beverly Hills Housewives and the fireplace going.

36 weeks - 9 months along (!!)

Upside: Yes, we hit the 9 MONTH mark! Pretty soon we'll be counting down days instead of weeks. Über-exciting.
Downside: I got my first stretch marks, dangit! They are mostly on the underbelly, but I started using Maderma the day I found them. (That stuff is $35 big ones! Geez.) But hoping the squigglers don't get too much worse.

I don't normally post any pics with this much skin, but whatever. Not
that many people read this blog anyway. Please keep your fingers
crossed that whenever this baby comes (hopefully sooner than later),
the delivery will go smoooooooth.

Date Night

If I haven't mentioned it lately, I have a pretty sweet husband. He's been on hiatus from work for the past 5 weeks - not that he's had much time to relax. He's been working his butt off trying to get this house in order. But when he takes time off, I always get way too used to him being home. Then I don't want him to go back to work. It's too much fun having him here.

Well the time has arrived where he must go back. So even though we've gone out plenty of times in the last few weeks (you know... dinner, movies, simple stuff like that) I told him "Before you go back to work, we should have a date night." I always throw in that it might be the last time we will ever be alone too, just to rub in the baby factor. Of course, he had no objections. He likes food and movies as much as the next guy.

But then we made the mistake of going to Target.

Oh, Target. We are there like 3 times a week and can never seem to leave the store without spending $100+. I mean we literally had 5 things on our list and walked out with much, much more. And none of it was even frivolous spending! Mostly food and necessities (this time.) So as that little green cash register number got closer and closer to $200, I said to him "You know, maybe we should just stay in tonight... *GULP*" He agreed and so I prepared myself for a Sunday night of TV watching and bean burritos. No big deal, but date night would have to wait.

Cut to a few hours later - my adorable husband is in the kitchen preparing a real honest-to-goodness dinner. Pork chops, rice, veggies, AND he was cute enough to set the table with place settings and top it all off with some sparkling cider in wine glasses. He didn't want me to go without my date night. So we enjoyed our food, some conversation at the table and watched Friday Night Lights with the fireplace going. It was one of the best date nights I could've asked for.

And it all took place in my yoga pants.

He wins!