~ Masons ~

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Oh, the Places You'll Go

And the people you'll meet!!!

Our little Miss Maelee has had quite an eventful couple of weeks, filled with:

*meeting many more new friends and family (her Uncle Daniel and "Great Too-Daddy" were huge highlights)
*a couple of long car rides- one to DE to meet more family and one to Stony Brook so Becky could finish her last requirement as a teacher (4 1/2 hour juries...)
* more outings and hanging out with friends
* her first trip to church after several weekends of family in town and a trip out of town
* the perfecting of some pretty impressive vocal chords during some diaper/clothing changes that she's not thrilled about, or after hours of being restlessly awake!!!

While we absolutely adore our little lady to pieces and can't complain one bit, our hands have definitely felt a bit more full lately (hmm, maybe something to do with Nana-Lin no longer being here??? Sigh.)!

Our Maelee girl still lets us sleep at night and gives us more enjoyment than we could imagine when she's peacefully awake (we swear some of her big grins are NOT just gas, and she mimics some of our silly faces- so fun!), but sometimes we feel like our little pinkies are about to fall off!!! That seems to be the only thing that will pacify her when the fussiness kicks in and she can't get to sleep...

A big fusser? We'd still like to think no, but we are definitely seeing it come out more and more as the days pass! We seem to be on an every other day pattern over this past week of great napping days and fussy napping days, but we continue to count our blessings!!!

One thing that hasn't changed, though, (in our humble opinions, at least) is her daggone, stinkin' cuteness! So without further ado, here are some pictures of our beautiful, sweet girl over the past couple of weeks.

Starting with her 2 week photo shoot with daddy
in her BIG bow :)

Followed by her 3rd week photo shoot with daddy
in her little bow :)

And with the bunny her Grandma Mason handmade for her

Meeting new friends

Nate and Lauren

Jessa and Todd and Radhika and David

And meeting her Uncle Daniel in her 2nd week!

The whole family!

So thankful for Daniel's quick trip back from Japan!!!

Loves to be in her daddy's arms

On outing with mommy and Nana-Lin to Bloomingdales

Some more favorites from her 2nd week...

Our little conductor :)

First time taking in swing- not sure what to think!

So sad to see Nana-Lin leave :(
She loved her naps in Nana-Lin's lap!!!

And the highlight of the 3rd week...

Meeting her "Great Too-dad"
and more family in Delaware!

With Nana-Lin and "Auntie Coop"
(college roommates and longtime friends)

With Mary Catherine, her "Great Nart" :)

Another big day meeting extended family for Mother's Day luncheon
Lots of family photos and posing!!!

Too-dad with his great grandchildren

Our little cutie on Mother's Day

With a very happy mom, indeed!

Meeting her new BFF, Teegan, born just 6 days after Maelee!

And in case that sampling isn't enough, here are slideshows of her 2nd and 3rd week "photo shoots" with daddy, and more 2nd and 3rd week general faves:

And another video showing her first meeting with her Great Too-dad:

http://vimeo.com/11622317
(password- Maelee2)

We just can't seem to stop taking pictures of her...

Thursday, April 29, 2010

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!