Time Slip.

As you probably know, a lot has happened since my last post.

This little bundle of precious was born at 2:42pm on October 5th, 2016. The 10 days that have passed since then have been a bit of a blur. Needless to say, Jamie and I are over the moon thrilled with our little guy and we think he's perfect in every way. Definitely well worth the wait.

I won't go into the whole birth story but for the headlines:

• Went to the hospital with strong contractions around midnight
• Active labor began around 4am
• Pushing phase lasted almost 4 hours -- it was definitely as painful as I feared
• It is so surreal to feel the weight of your baby on top of your belly instead of in your belly for the first time
• Born at 8lbs 9oz, 22.5" in length, and 14" head

The super-length (apparently the 100th percentile) make finding him clothes a little difficult. More than half of the newborn clothes we got for him don't fit as his legs are too long to fit in them if they have feet. He's not a particularly chubby baby so the top part of him swims in whatever we do find that fits his bottom half. It's super-cute, but also kind of sad when the "pants" are more like capris, or his legs are bunched up. Poor lil' guy.

And his feet were almost too big for the footprint paper at the hospital. Maybe he'll play volleyball some day...

Time is already flying way too fast for me. At his appointment yesterday he was already back up to birth weight and part of me was the tiniest bit sad that he doesn't get to stay this kissable mini-size for too long.

Now you'll have to excuse me while I go and kiss some baby cheeks...

Eviction Notice.

In honor of one of my dad's favorite people...

This baby has got to go! Granted, he's not overdue...yet...but at this point it feels like he is planning on taking permanent residence in my womb. NOT OKAY, BABY. 

Happy Day!

Look who made it to the Midwest!

For months I have been anxiously awaiting two monumental arrivals. While I am still waiting on a certain someone's arrival into the world (any day now...so people keep assuring me), the other BIG arrival finally happened this weekend! Mami and Papi Zakisauce made it to Minnesota! Through a major assist from my awesome brother, they were able to make the journey safely and relatively easily. (Thanks awesome brother!)

Minneapolis delivered on a lovely today which gave us an opportunity for a nice walk to the Farmer's Market and a quick tour of the neighborhood before awesome brother had to hop on a plane back to the West Coast. 

Now that Mami and Papi have made it here, I gave Tiny Long permission to arrive this week...wishful thinking...

Creepy.

Hello neighbor,

Maybe it's just me, but I think there is something a little creepy about mowing your lawn when it's completely dark outside. I appreciate your dedication to lawncare though.

XOXO,
  Your Neighbor

In other news, I went in for my weekly check-up with the doctor and Tiny Long is doing well. He assured me again that it could be any day now...get excited! I'm definitely feeling rotund.

(almost 38 weeks!)

Full Term.

Crazy how fast the months can go by when the individual days seem to go so slowly. Back in February when we found out we were pregnant, it seemed like an impossibly long wait until we would finally get to meet our stowaway. Now we are officially "full term" and our little guy can safely make his appearance any day now.

(Here he last Friday...he clearly has the family cheeks!)

We were able to get an ultrasound to confirm gender (which we never did), check his size, and position. Our technician was nice enough to turn on the 4D to see if we could get a shot of his face. As usual, he wasn't being very cooperative with  the ultrasound lady and eventually she snapped this shot declaring that it was "not her best work" but we were thrilled at being able to see anything at all! Hooray for science!

He had a big growth spurt in the last couple of months, and while he was in the 50th percentile at our last ultrasound, he is now at the 74th percentile at 6lbs 11oz. He's stayed head-down after flipping a few weeks ago from breech position and it looks like he is starting to get in position for the big day. 

Judging by the way he is sleeping peacefully, I'm thinking he has no idea how excited we all are to meet him!

State Fair Hijinks.

What a great Labor Day weekend! Why? Because 1) we had some pretty awesome visitors and 2) it included a trip to the Minnesota State Fair.

That's right, Brother Boo and Girlfriend-of-Brother Boo visited us for a final hurrah as autonomous human beings (i.e. before the tiny dictator makes his appearance in the next few weeks). Games were enjoyed, fetch was played (with Clyde), and lots of food was eaten. Especially at said Fair:

Sadly, I didn't make it to this trip to the Fair given the super-pregnant status. BUT, I did get to enjoy some Fair festivities earlier this week when Man Boo and I did a trial run one weekday evening so that I could see if I would be able to manage a hotter and more crowded trip with the whole crew. Ultimately, we learned that I couldn't -- it's really hard to strike an appropriate balance of hydrating enough not to trigger Braxton Hicks and not having to waddle to the bathroom constantly -- to make the trip enjoyable for all. Don't worry though, because I definitely got to satisfy some really strong cravings for Fair food -- one of which may have included chicken in a waffle cone. So good.

Besides, I also got to partake of cheese curds through the magic of Snapchat.

(This may have been my petulant response to all of the pictures of food being texted to me)

Clyde found two new best friends and was basically at "11" all weekend with the energy. Scott was a sucker when it came to caving in and playing fetch with him for much longer than Jamie and I could ever endure. And Ruth, was the Clyde whisperer...Jamie and I basically didn't exist for Clyde this weekend. Since they left, he has been a sad former shell of Weekend Clyde. Moping around listlessly and giving intense puppy dog eyes in the hopes that we will bring back his friends.

(Puppy dog eyes intensify)

We even had a surprise visit from our beloved friends, the Weitzes, who were in town and hijinks were had. I'm not sure I'm allowed to share video sample of that hijinks, but it was a great way to end our weekend.

And finally, we're almost to the finish line at 36 weeks and 4 days! Less than a month to go...which is pretty good news since this is starting to get pretty uncomfortable...

Not Throwin' Away [His] Shot.

All of you know my ManBoo, Jamie. You also know that he is one of the most optimistic and perpetually-happy people out there. It's glorious and is one of the many reasons that I adore that man. As his wife, the one teensy downside of this near-constant contentment is that I always feel the need to bump him up from "happy" to "deliriously happy" which can be challenging when he doesn't really want for much. So, I settle for those short little bursts of delirious happiness that come when I surprise him with his favorite candy from the co-op or give him a little back scratch.

Earlier this year, before we knew about Baby, I was given the opportunity to make Jamie deliriously happy to the umpteenth degree. Like, 1000x peanut butter cup happy. I was able to buy tickets for us to see Hamilton in New York. Mind you, these tickets weren't free -- they were pretty pricey, actually -- but before this opportunity came up we couldn't even find any tickets for cheaper than $1,000 each. Needless to say, I bought two tickets and Jamie was deliriously happy and the Hamilton soundtrack blared triumphantly from our speaker systems.

Then we found out about our little stowaway and of course we both were deliriously happy about that piece of news. 

But now about those Hamilton tickets...

Jamie is still optimistic (as usual) that we are able to make it out to New York with a 1-2 month old baby and somehow find someone to take said 1-2 month old for the evening while we hit the theater. I think that's a bunch of hooey. I have since looked into selling our tickets and found that we could actually make a nice chunk of change by selling our tickets because seats that are not as nice as ours are selling for five times more than what I paid for our awesome seats.

So if there is anyone reading this I must know...what would you do? Sell the tickets and continue the regular grind of trying to survive life with a newborn within the safe and comfortable confines of our home? Go on an adventure and bring Tiny Long to New York and go really big for our first post-baby date?

To sum up...

• Pros of Staying Home
• Save (and even make!) money which would be more wisely spent on expensive baby
• Less stressful
• More sleep for all involved parties (which I hear is the most precious commodity)
• More time to hone our parenting skills before taking the show on the road
• Don't have to inconvenience a New Yorker friend to take care of a very young baby
• Pros of Going to New York
• Jamie's dreams will come true and we'll see a great show
• Get out of the house (not sure if this will feel like a pro at this point in time)
• People say it's easier to travel with a young infant than an older child...
• We have lots of friends in NYC that we'd love to see

I'm sure there are more on either side but those are the major ones. Tell us what to do!

Baby Crash Course.

Man Boo and I attended a crash course in childbirth, breastfeeding, and newborn care yesterday. It had the intended effect of making things feel "real" and giving us a more accurate picture of just how much we didn't know we didn't know.  The good part of that is that we now know lots of those things.

While I anticipated feeling somewhat panicked about how ill-prepared we were for baby, I actually felt pretty good walking out of the full-day class because I realized that as ill-prepared as we were, there were so many other people in that class that were just as ill-prepared, if not worse off. Now that I type that, it sounds pretty schadenfreude-y of me...but it's totally true.  At least I knew that a cesarean section doesn't involve removing several of my organs and storing them in Pyrex containers whilst delivering baby. I'm not kidding. An adult -- and soon-to-be mother -- asked that question including the Pyrex detail.

All-in-all, money and time well-spent. And I'm very glad that we didn't enroll in one of those class series that involved several nights of information. With one day of high-level overview, I could attend with Man Boo at my side and feel really confident that while there really is no way to fully prepare for raising a tiny human, at least I have the very best partner going into this with me.

We're at 32 weeks and change, folks!

(Yes, it bothers me that I'm facing the other direction in that last picture)

I am officially restricted to maternity pants and get winded climbing up to the attic. A few days ago, Jamie told me with a note of wonder in his voice: "my book says your stomach is in your boobs now!" Not exactly, but pretty close...it's getting crowded in there.  Respect.

Hail to the Man Boo.

A lot has been going on in the last few weeks. Probably the most exciting part since my last post was the Democratic National Convention. While I'm not usually all that much of a political nerd, this year, I watched pretty much the whole thing each day through the magic of online streaming. Granted, the stakes of this election are especially high given the horror that is The Donald, but the primary reason I felt so engaged this year was because Jamie was so involved.

Not only did I get a virtual "front seat" to the convention hall, but through frequent texting, I was able to have some running commentary with Jamie throughout. I felt sort of like the two old theater guys (Statler and Walder) from The Muppet Show, except more patriotic.

(SO MANY BALLOONS!)

I don't often get to see the fruits of Jamie's labor, so it was so energizing to see it for three days straight. There were times while I was watching (particularly when the glass ceiling was shattered) that I felt my heart racing as if I was watching the final minutes of some high-stakes sports play. Jamie even got to meet Kareem Abdul-Jabbar...

...and while he did solicit a picture from KAJ for his boss, Jamie didn't ask for a selfie.  Apparently, KAJ doesn't like having his picture taken. That's fair.

For the last several weeks, Jamie had been working incredibly hard every. single. day. on the Democratic Platform. Staying late at the office, writing proposals, calling Bernie and Clinton folks, and traveling all over (i.e. Orlando, St. Louis, Phoenix, D.C.) for the Platform Committee meetings. Seeing the Platform win the support of so many at the convention was rewarding for me, so I can't imagine what it must have felt like for him. 

(Jamie in his default DNC stance)

Upon his return home, Jamie took three naps and then we went into baby-prep mode. Stuff got done! Nursery furniture was purchased, car seat was installed (and then promptly removed to preserve as many weeks of full back seat as we could), closets were organized, baby spy cam installed, etc. 

(Clyde for scale)

While we haven't really decorated per se, we have the necessary items in place for baby survival. Plus, I had the blinds installed while Jamie was in Philly so I think that really ties the room together. Exciting stuff!

It's Getting Real.

The pregnancy so far has been delightful. No nausea, no weird pregnancy symptoms, no weird cravings, and no cramps/muscle soreness etc. Really, aside from being sleepy all of the time and a couple bouts of moodiness (e.g. shedding a couple tears because a restaurant ran out of apple crisp and uncalled for shouts at the poor hubs) I haven't had any of the dreaded pregnancy symptoms yet.

This week I'm entering my third trimester and my first "uncomfortable" pregnancy symptom hit: I'm so HOT all of the time. I may even have taken a couple of my video calls sans pants.  It's not even hot over here (a very pleasant 72 degrees) but I've parked myself in front of the fan.

I'm not looking forward to when the real summer weather hits and I'm actually sprouting a big, uncomfortable bump.

Baby Bear.

Last post about New Zealand, I promise!

It's been a recent "tradition" to buy local yarn when we travel and knit something using it as a memento of our trip. This trip wasn't an exception and there was an abundance of great yarn stores all along our route through NZ.

There are a lot of sheep in New Zealand, so I was surprised to find that the "true" New Zealand yarn is actually made from possum.  At first, I pictured the possums that we have in the U.S. and was kind of grossed out.  Fortunately, New Zealand possums are a slightly more palatable and look like this.:

So, I bought some possum yarn and knitted our way from town to town.  My favorite project for this trip was this little hat (modeled here by "Wolfie").

Why so little?  Because it's my first knitted project for this little guy coming in the Fall!

My mom has been a bit more industrious and has already made multiple baby blankets, some booties, and I think she's working on a sweater.  Needless to say, he'll be plenty warm for his first Winter...