Hello Cheeks!

Ava was just about average size at birth, but when I compare her to other newborns she always looks bigger. I've decided 80% of her weight is in her head and cheeks! This was Ava's first bath at home. For the most part she was quite calm until the cool air hit her after the bath. Ethan loved being a helper too. Initially all the new things with the baby were exciting and Ethan wanted to be part of it all. Now I ask him to pass me a burp towel and he says, "Hey mom, I'm busy too," as he plays with his Legos. Oh the rough life of a 3 year old!

Ava Sofia

Beautiful little Ava Sofia was born Thursday, September 23 at 5:20 p.m. weighing 7 lbs 4 oz and 19 inches long. I realize this is old news for most folks … but with a newborn and many visitors it’s taken me a bit to get to blog updates.

My last set of blog updates were done on September 23^rd around 1 a.m. while I was trying to keep myself busy between 5-minute contractions. I went into labor around 7pm on the 22^nd while I was getting Ethan ready for bed and thought we'd be heading to the hospital before midnight. Much to my chagrin this slow labor lasted until about 1 hour before Ava was born the next day. We finally went to the hospital around 7:30 in the morning and by about 10:30 am I was so exhausted that I finally agreed to have an epidural. Sweet relief! Things finally kicked in gear around 4:30pm and Ava joined the world by 5:20pm.

We’re so happy to have her sweet, patient little self in our home!

T minus 6 days

For the few who have requested, here is my belly in all its glory with 6 days until due date. Jairo kept taking pictures and saying that my smile always looked so forced. Really! Who wouldn’t be forcing a smile at 9 months pregnant!!

We’ve been talking with Ethan more about the fact that the baby will be born soon. He seems to take issue with the fact I will be going to the hospital. As I was explaining that we needed to be at the hospital so the doctor could help us get the baby out he sat quietly pondering for a moment and then said, “So … the doctor will help pull the baby out of your mouth?” Unfortunately we were not in best parent form with a response. I stammered with an, “uhhh, well…” and then Jairo chimed in with, “you wanna have some ice cream?”

Off to Preschool

So, the first day of preschool was a parent open house so both Jairo and I went. I was hoping for a more classic first day of school picture, but Ethan was not into posing at all as you can see. All the pictures were one big blur. So we just caught a few of him playing.

I admit I got a little choked up dropping Ethan off to his first official day of preschool. He ran right in and I had to call him back for a hug and a kiss … obviously for my sake, not his. He gave me a half hug and kiss on the run as he eagerly made his way inside. Not that I’m not looking forward a few hours to myself (at least until the baby is here), but realizing how quickly the time goes from infant to independent was a bit hard. Granted, we did have a bit of a set back the other day when he had a melt down when dropping him off. But by pick up time he couldn’t stop talking about how much fun he had. I have a feeling with the baby coming we may have a few more difficult days of transition. I’ll hope for the best.

Northwest Trek

We finally made our way to Northwest Trek, a wildlife park here in Washington near Mt Rainier. You can’t go wrong in entertaining Ethan if animals are involved. This was a fun visit because it combined being in the beautiful outdoors with some great animal watching. We saw everything … caribou, bog horn sheep, mountain goats, bison, bears, wolves, lynx, badgers, etc. Ethan was surprising patient in searching for the animals. The bonus was the weather. When we left our house in the morning it was rainy and foggy, but we thought we’d see if the weather improved. As we got closer to our destination the sun was out and the weather turned out to be perfect!