something that makes me smile.

There is a man who lives down the road from us. His grass is beautiful. I think it must be a special kind of grass... like the grass they use on the green at golf courses, and very much unlike the "grass" that we cut here at the house. There are two things about this man that make me smile... first is his beautiful grass, (which makes me think that he is a frequent grass cutter, and by the looks of his grass cutting methodology I think he probably he an appreciation for the finer things in the theory of cutting grass) and second he's always there, riding his John Deere with a stogie hanging out of his mouth. I don't know why the stogie makes me smile, maybe it is the dependability of it all... if he is going to be cutting his grass he is going to be smokin' his stogie. There it is... the man on the corner who smokes a stogie while cutting his grass makes me smile.

Bathtime and weight

Just a quick post....

Maria had a bath yesterday... which she hated.... we'll have to get her used to the water, cause really water can be so much fun!! Before her bath we used my mom's kitchen scale again to see how much she weighted and the little porker is a whopping 7lbs 5 oz.

Random Maria Pictures

Check out grandpa toyk's finger in respect to Maria's arm...


She's got a good set of lungs..... we've learned that she's not so fond of being naked.... which includes changing diapers and clothes... she's warming up to bath time.


Using nana's kitchen scale to check Maria's weight.... back up to birth weight!! She didn't like it so much.


My little sleeping Beauty


Trying to be all artsy... looking forward to when I get my new camera...

Update....

Sorry about the lack of posts lately.... I'm learning how to manage my time, and so far I'm doing horribly. All I want to do is cuddle with my baby, which is so not productive. One day I'll be better... in the mean time here's a bunch of posts that cover the past week or so...

Thanks to all who posted advice/tips on the whole breastfeeding thing... We're doing good. She's getting more and more onto a routine.... every 2 hours or so, which is ok. The only part that bothers me is the 2am feeding where she's wide awake and takes FOREVER to get back to sleep... I especially feel bad for Marco who has to get up and go to work in the morning.

Maria's Pants

So... we went to Mt. Baker on Friday (see post below) and I thought "hey... I should see if Maria's pants fit and she could wear them to the mountain..." but they didn't fit.... they didn't really even come close, and these are 0-3 month pants!

Mt Baker

We all went up to Mt. Baker on Friday... it was beautiful. Down at the house it was all cloudy, but up on the mountain it was above the clouds and beautiful!! We had a great time. We went up to the ski area, and then continued up the road to the very end (Heather Meadows/ Artists Point) which i had never been to before. The views are amazing. PS... I know I look frumpy, there have been things more important lately than my appearance.... but hopefully I'll be able to figure it all out and un-frump myself soon!!

Birch Bay

Maria, Marco and i headed out to Birch Bay last week.... the days are all blurring together and i can't remember which day it was...
Sorry for the lack of Maria pics in this post... but she was all bundled up and sleeping in the Moby.
There was a cool little sailboat that kept going out and back in.... we stopped and watched for a little while...
Marco got a skateboard the other day and we took it out to the beach for him to try.... those professional guys make it look really easy... but it's not!!

Ted & the Teddy Bear

Ted.... a friend of the family heard that we had had Maria, and sent her a little gift... it's so soft and cute... and if the bear was really another little girl, they could totally share clothes!!

Maria with Nana & Grandpa Toyk

Nana and Grandpa Toyk are so great with Maria.... she just laps up all the attention that they give her...

The Front Fell Off.....

For those of you who haven't seen this.... you HAVE to watch... it is so stinkin' funny!!

Apparently this is a REAL interview....




cardboard derivatives.... hahaha

Maria Pics

Maria's first bath at the hospital. I love the funny faces that she does.... especially when she's yawning.

She'a all bundled up.... we were getting ready to head home from the hospital.

Here she is in her car seat.... she's so small!!She's got kind of an asian look to her....

I was trying out the Moby Wrap one day and my mom caught me and took a pic... no make-up, but at least i had showered!
She's got these LONG fingers and she kept scratching her face. We had some mini mits, but they were too big and she kept pulling them off.... we finally found some at target that are small enough for her.
Here she is last night taking a nap with daddy on the lovesac. So cute!

Maria's 1st Doctor Apt./ Advice?

Marco, Maria, and I went into Bellingham for Maria's first doctor's appointment. She is doing great. She's got just a touch of jaundice. The last weight they took at the hospital she was 6lbs 8oz. Today she was 6lbs 8.5oz. The goal is to get her back up to her birth weight by next Monday, which will be her 2 week checkup. She cried and cried the whole time, she really didn't like that whole get naked for the weight thing (she was also a little hungry).


I'm still trying to figure out the whole breastfeeding thing down... I've got the mechanics down, but the timing i'm not so great at.... I'd like some kind of a schedule, if only for my own sanity. I've heard of people who feed whenever the baby is hungry for as long as the baby wants to eat.... then there's the other end that i've heard of, only every 4 hours and for 30 minutes only. I'm just wondering what other mothers out there have done... trying to find something that works for me, without having to learn totally by trial and error. Advice anyone?!?

Labor and Delivery

Ok for those of you who want to know..... here is the whole labor and delivery story...

The very beginning:
Marco and I woke up kind of early Monday morning (7ish...) Marco plays paintball every few weeks with some guys across the street. He took off and around 8am my mucus plug came out. I went upstairs and was chatting with my mom about the whole thing. I didn't freak out or anything, there was a girl in my birth class whose plug came out a month before her due date and her baby wasn't born until a few days after her due date. I was having contractions but it wasn't anything spectacular. Mom and Dad made breakfast (thank you!!).

Side Note:
Ok, so this was Labor Day weekend.... and we made plans as a family to take the weekend off and take care of things.... our lives have been pretty hectic lately and we haven't been getting all the things that we wanted to get done done.... so we worked on getting things done. Marco and my dad put in the last window on Saturday, they finished off the door from the carport to the chicken coop. Set up the bed and armoire downstairs (they're so pretty ) Mom cleaned out the garden boxes that we weren't using anymore, Mom and Dad worked on the garage (cause goodness knows that needed help!!) We all had huge lists of things that we wanted to get done. One of the things on my list was finish this quilt I've been working on since earlier this year. It's going to be really cool, when it's done I'll post a pic. Mom and I worked on it really hard and got it over 1/2 finished by Sunday evening.

During the Day:
So Monday after breakfast I continued working on my quilt. Contractions kept coming and when I thought they were getting a little more regular I timed them and they were about 7 minutes apart and lasted between 30 and 45 seconds. Still nothing spectacular. So I just kept on working away. Marco got home from paintball around 12:30, I filled him in on the whole contraction thing. My Dad had finished the drywall stuff around the window so Marco painted the last wall in Maria's area (woo hoo!!) We had lunch and I finally took a shower. Marco and I headed to the Mall around 3. We did a little shopping, but it was really annoying having to stop walking every couple of minutes.... cause that whole walking/having a contraction at the same time thing doesn't work too well. (neither does laughing (or sneezing)/having a contraction) So we went home, got there 5 ish... Marco gave me a wonderful massage with the thumper. So nice. Mom and Dad got home from a bike ride and Mom made spaghetti for dinner. Marco and I went upstairs.... Mom wanted to teach me how to breathe. My birthing class was good, but it wasn't great. We learned a bunch of stuff, but breathing wasn't one of them. So they walked us thru a few different things and my dad timed my contractions.... they were down to 5 minutes apart and between 1 and 1 1/2 minutes long. So we had some dinner and then went for a walk down to the road and back. When we got back the contractions were down to about 3 minutes apart. So we decided to make that trip to the hospital.

At the Hospital:
We got to the hospital at 8:23pm. We got checked in... they got me strapped to one of the little machines that monitor the baby's heart rate and my contractions.... I was probably in there for 1/2 hour or so. They checked my cervix and I was a solid 3 and about 95% effaced. They ask on a scale of 1 to 10 how bad the pain is.... everything is so relative. I gave the pain at the top of the contraction a 9, because things can always get worse.... it's amazing how a 9 can change. They decided that things looked favorable so they decided to admit me and moved me to one of the Labor rooms. When we got there I said that I'd probably like an epidural, they explained that they'd have to ask a bunch of questions and get some blood work done. So they got me situated and got started on that. Got an IV in me and we just kept working thru the contractions. Things started getting more intense, definitely a worse 9 than before. Marco was SO great. He held my hand & let me squeeze as hard as I wanted to. They gave me a drug that was supposed to take the edge off the contractions... about 2 minutes after they gave me the drug I started feeling REALLY good. So relaxed..... but that didn't last long... less than 10 minutes later I'm REALLY wanting that epidural. Wow the pain was getting intense. They got the anesthesiologist in there and he began to ask me questions and get everything prepped. I rolled onto my side and during the whole administration of the epidural i had 2 contractions. Both of which I had the urge to push... they told me to breathe thru it.... i tried, but when you gotta push, you gotta push. So there is definitely stuff going on down there.... I could feel her coming...
When they started the epidural process they called 2 more nurses and the doctor in. So they were getting prepped for things in the room. The 2 nurses that were helping the anesthesiologist and Marco got me rolled onto my back. The anesthesiologist started giving me the medicine and another contraction started. I had to push again (I don't think that once you start having the urge to push during a contraction that it stops) and out flew Maria (10:55 pm). The doctor hurried and put on his gloves the Nurses ran over picked her up and started cleaning her off... Marco cut the cord, the doc delivered the placenta.... and it's really all kind of blurry from there on out... Maria and I had a little skin to skin time (she was a little cold because she peed) The doc stitched me up (I had one tiny tear, and another not so tiny tear... not big, but not as tiny as the first).

So.... Started at 8ish am. Checked into the hospital at 8:30 pm. Maria born at 10:55 pm.

Maria Elle

Well, our little girl arrived at 10:55 pm Monday evening (9/1) she made a rather quick entry into this world. (we checked into the hospital around 8:30pm) She is doing wonderfully... she is just a skinny little thing... 6lbs 13 oz. 20 inches long. We're both home now... and adjusting well. She is just the most precious thing ever!!
Here is a pic.... we'll post more later!!

Labor on Labor Day?!?

Ha ha.... very funny!! But no, seriously I believe that this whole.... blessed.. um... thing.... might be starting. Ug.

Looking forward to:
-Having Maria here.....
-being able to sleep in any position again.....
-getting rid of baby hiccups (i know some ppl love them.... I'm not one of those people.)