Out and About

The Bathing Beauty

This past weekend was a busy one. Clara and I went to a baby shower, we all went to an old fashioned car show and concert at a park near our house, we went to a birthday barbecue for Jesse and Brian, and we also took Clara on her first beach trip! We are probably a little crazy taking our two week old so many places, but we want to have an adaptable baby, and she has been great on all the trips. We especially had a great time at the beach, the weather was great, and we think Clara is going to be a little beach baby!

The Whole Gang
(Jordan, Me, Holly, Jesse, Taylor, Tiffany, Matt, Jeannine)

Newborn Photos

We did a newborn photo session with my brother-in-law Taylor Abeel, who is an amazing photographer. He was brave enough for the challenge, and we definitely faced some obstacles including poop, pee and a baby who refused to sleep. But I think we came out with some great shots of our new little family. I want give a HUGE thanks to Taylor for doing them for us, we will treasure these photos forever!

One Week Old

Loving life at one week old

Clara is already one week old! She had a mini check up today and everything is looking great. She lost some weight in the beginning, but is already back up to her birth weight. Looking back at most of the pictures I noticed she is sleeping in most of them, so here is a picture of her with her eyes open, I think they are beautiful. We all seem to have decided that she looks like Jordan, but she has my dimple in her chin and my coloring.

Here is a picture of my dad holding Clara. It is a huge blessing that he is around to see his first grandchild. He was diagnosed with a terminal cancer 15 years ago, and was told he only had a couple of years to live. Thankfully he has been able to not only see his children grow up, but he even got to become a grandfather!

Smitten

Let's just say that this little girl has us wrapped around her finger. She is so much fun and so far has been such a good baby. We pretty much just want to sit and stare at her all the time, which is pretty easy to do because her favorite thing to do is sleep. We left the hospital Saturday afternoon, and it was nice to come home. It has been pretty easy adjusting to having a newborn, between the two of us we have down a nice system. Jordan has been amazing, and has left me pretty much focusing on getting down nursing. That has been the biggest challenge for me, it definitely has taken perseverance and determination, and we are not quite there yet in conquering it. She refuses to eat on one side of me, which makes the other side have to do double duty. Thankfully I have a pump and have been pumping the side she doesn't like until I can see a lactation consultant. But other than that, we love having her and we find enjoyment and entertainment in pretty much everything she does. She makes the funniest faces, and tends to squeak sometimes. Here are some pictures of our first days with Clara.

One Day Old

Hanging with daddy

Here are some more of our visitors...

The Abeel boy's & Clara

Uncle Jonathan

She's Here!

We had an unexpected early arrival yesterday on Thursday, September 3rd! My water broke at 3:40 a.m, and the first call I made was to Jordan who had been up in L.A. fighting the wildfires for the past whole week. The fact that he was up there was making me nervous since I was so near my due date, but while I had myself convinced that she was going to wait until he came back, she had other plans! Thankfully I got through to him and San Marcos Fire immediately sent someone up to relieve him. My mom drove me to the hospital, we arrived around 6:00 a.m. and they admitted me. When they checked me they said I was 1cm, thick and high (pretty much not very advanced at all). They decided to wait to do anything until Jordan arrived, which thankfully he made it to the hospital around 11:30 a.m. I was still not having any contractions and they finally decided to start the Pitocin around 1:00, but still after that it took awhile for anything to begin. The contractions slowly progressed and finally became unmagageable around 6:30 pm, very strong with barely any break in between, and I asked for the epidural. Thankfully it came quickly and was put in successfully. They checked me shortly after for the second time that day and were surprised to find that I was fully dilated and was ready to push! I pretty much made it naturally all the way through dilation! I began to push, but unfortunately either because of the epidural or that they had lowered my pitocin, the contractions slowed way down and pretty much stopped by the end of three hours of pushing! The doctor finally had to use the vaccuum to get poor Clara out, which resulted in a cone shaped head. But she was very healthy and active and all in all everything worked out. She arrived at 11:19 pm, weighed a perfect 7lbs 2 oz and was 19.5 inches long. She is absolutely beautiful and we love her so much. It has all been very surreal and wonderful and we are so thankful to have a beautiful healthy baby girl!

We had a few visitors late Thursday night:

"Gram"

"Auntie Alissa"

"Grammy"

"Grampa"