Our Little Ladybug

The most beautiful song of praise to God I have ever heard
was the sound of my little girl taking her first breaths last night.

My husband's thoughts on 4/23,

the morning after Maelee Marguerite was born.

Wow. What a week it has been!

As you can see from the last post, God has answered our prayers. We can not believe our sweet girl came into our lives just seven days ago. We are all so incredibly smitten with her and we're just enjoying this phase while it lasts, knowing she won't stay like this for long... sigh.

For now, we love to watch her sleeping peacefully or when she's alert and wide-eyed making all sorts of expressions. She has not been a big fusser so we're just trying to count that blessing, fully aware that could change at any moment! Either way, she is one adored little lady. Mommy has been spoiled not just by Maelee, but also by the doting daddy and Nana-Lin (Becky's mom), and an amazing church family who has made sure we are all well fed. We're all excited to see her Pop-Pop (Becky's dad) and Uncle Dan (Becky's brother) this weekend. It has been a joyous time, indeed.

April 22nd was quite a day- much different than expected or "planned" (hehe). As always, I enjoy making lofty plans, fully aware that things most likely will not go at all how I envision. The labor/birth was about as different as I could've imagined! I didn't expect to be part of the 10% of women whose water breaks, nor did I expect a shorter than average labor, and I especially did not expect thigh labor! I didn't even know that existed!!! Well, trust me, it does. And it stinks. Bizarre? Yes. But pretty awful.

We had hoped to stay at home in "early labor" as long as possible (we had labor projects, mind you- cleaning, some remaining preggie pics, etc...), so when we went to the hospital, traveling by NYC's finest MTA bus with only Becky's purse in hand for our scheduled non-stress test, we were pretty bummed to learn that we weren't allowed to leave as my membranes had, in fact, ruptured. We were ecstatic at the prospect of seeing our little girl soon, but didn't want to be stuck at the hospital the whole time! Ironically, it was all for the better as the intensity kicked in and picked up pretty immediately, never letting up until her arrival that evening.

There seems to be an idea out there that "short" labors equal "easy" labors... Well, I don't think ANY labor could qualify as easy, and while I feel incredibly blessed and fortunate that there were no complications or unnecessary interventions with mine, and I'm certainly thankful that it did not go on any longer, it was still the most difficult, intense, and yes, painful, experience I have ever been through.

But, it was oh-so-worth it, and we are truly thankful for God's little gift to us! Steve and my doula, Lisa, got me through (despite Steve's sore hands from pretty much rubbing my thighs for 8 hrs straight or so) and my parents arrived about 20 minutes after she was born. Again, not part of the "plan," but an amazing experience for us all.

We have now finally gotten through the hundreds of pictures her Pop-Pop and Nana-Lin took and some beauties that Steve shot so there is a sampling below, as well as a slideshow of MANY more, and a video Steve and I took on her 4th day of life.

I'm still dazed, but she is treating us well. More pics are sure to come soon!

Day 1
After enjoying some time on mommy, Maelee gets to look into her daddy's face-
not even 30 minutes old

Back with mommy

In awe...

The incredible labor "team"- doula Lisa and Steve

Back in our room

Day 2
And in love

View from our room

Proud Parents

Proud grandparents

First car ride, on our way home

We're home!

Day 3
with "Auntie Kim" (Steve's sister) and her boyfriend, Karl

First sponge bath

Warming up

Day 4
First cab ride, on way to Pediatrician's

What are you doing to me???

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8
One week old

First outing, to Starbucks

And here's a slideshow of many, many more pics:

And a video of her sweetness on day 4:

http://vimeo.com/11253147

Password: Maelee1

Patience is a Virtue (that I don't have...)

I'm beginning this post on the "due date," but something tells me I won't be holding our little girl by midnight. Sigh... Pray that she will make her entrance into this world on her own and SOON!!!

In the event little Maelee wanted to be an early bird (always a thought on my mind, especially as I was born 6 weeks early!), I tried to get as much done as possible, as early as possible.

Hehe, little did I know I'd (almost) run out of things to do.

But, in my busybody ways, I seem to find more and more things to organize, clean, and prepare and am already thinking of projects for next week. Why is it so hard for me to just chill and relax??? Hopefully, it will all remain on a someday-to-do list though :)

Her room is about as finished as it can be right now so I think I can safely cross #2 off the "Before the Baby Arrives" List-

2. Finish Maelee's Room!!! Lots to do here - finish getting rid of all the random stuff in there that doesn't need to be in there, paint a couple pieces of furniture, and DECORATE!!!

I'm in the process of printing up some pictures of the great-grandmothers she gets her namesake from, and some pics of her daddy and me (to go in the little picture holders), but no more frames can be filled without her!

Mommy trying to be crafty with a memory box

The pictures that started it all...
Steve's picture of a ladybug on a rose taken on our trip to France

Little did we know what a hit the "ladybug theme" would be...


Nightlight from my mom

Trying to be clever by covering the knob with a sticker


A little touch on her "memory board"


The adorable wings from my shower, along with onesies decorated by friends,
and a lamp that my dad made for my aunt in 7th grade!!!





Just some overall views


The bath/health "station"


The "memory board"


A vase from our wedding, a picture of me as a baby with mom, grandma, and great grandma, and three heart picture holders that will eventually showcase
the women Maelee is named after



Changing station


Her "closet"- Steve's handiwork (with Joey's help!) in removing drawers from an armoire and adding a rod. Seriously, the clothes just kill me. Too cute.

Stuffed animal hammock to keep them out of the way!

More NYC style storage

With some corners filled with stroller gear and stuff she won't be needing yet, that just about does it! I must say, it has been quite a task, but fun :)

I'm also gonna go ahead and call a "completed" on #1-

1. Finish getting the apartment ready! At this point, that mainly entails going through lots of papers/documents, etc, and trying to get more organized and be more space efficient.

Although, I think there's always room for improvement in this department! But things are about as sorted as they're gonna get for now.

We've definitely done as much of #7 as we can and we're so thankful to many of our friends who made it a win-win deal for both of us by letting us mooch off their laundry facilities! (I think we've done more laundry in these past couple of months than in our almost 7 years of marriage- no lie.)

7. Babysit for friend's kids while we still can! Have gotten a pretty good start on this, but still have a couple other special families we want to help out while we can.

So as far as "the list" goes, the only one that doesn't look like we'll check off is #5-

5. Go to a Broadway Show! Just the two of us.

Time and $$$ are just NOT gonna let that happen!

BUT, we did take in my "cousin" (technically my step-uncle as he's my Too-dad's wife, Mary Catherine's son, but cousin seems more fitting!), Mark's Pace University production of "The Putnam County Spelling Bee!" He's the music director there and this is the 3rd show of theirs we've been to. They are phenomenal! We'd actually seen the Broadway version before, and theirs was every bit as entertaining so it'll count for us!!!

We've gone on more date nights than usual at least, and hope to be very intentional about this after she's born! Just last weekend, we enjoyed a fabulous dinner at a delicious restaurant a few blocks down-

One 83 Restaurant

Steve's pasta with bacon


Becky's Maine lobster with ravioli in a sage butter sauce

Yum.

You know, it seems some people think we have some sort of warped view of what our life is going to look like when she arrives like it'll be this blissful time where she's the perfect little angel who never cries, sleeps and eats like a dream, and giggles as soon as she gets home from the hospital, cause we're often only reminded of just how tough those first few months are going to be. Well, we do realize we can't even BEGIN to imagine how our life is going to change, how incredibly difficult it's going to be, how insanely exhausted/emotional/frustrated/overwhelmed, etc we're going to be and just how UNprepared anyone ever is for a new baby...

BUT, daggonit, we still can't wait to meet her and we're just so thankful that ultimately GOD is in control and will see us through! And we're also SOOO thankful for the many amazing friends who couple their warnings with plenty of encouragement and support, too, as that is what will really help us through those difficult times!!!

(So, no "I told ya so's" please!)
:)

I've been writing her letters throughout the pregnancy and still can't believe I will actually meet her soon. In so many ways, I feel I already know her, I feel so connected already. And it's weird to think that who she's going to be and what she's going to look like could be sooo completely different than this picture I have of her (which is of a perfect little angel, of course! J/K...).

So many hopes, dreams, fears, prayers. I don't think words will ever be able to describe how new mothers and mothers-to-be feel about their children and I just can't believe the time is almost here when I will actually be a mother!!!

Come on, baby Maelee- get here soon!