Bird Legs

A sneek peek

Thanks to a fabulous photographer, we got some completely heart melting pictures despite the fact that Emily was less than cooperative for this little event.

I watched for a few days to figure out when she was most sleepy so we could time it just right.  So of course she wasn't sleepy the afternoon we finally scheduled it.  But Niki pulled it off!

We got a few moments with her dozing...

And she even caught the sleep smile!

Love.

(for more check out Niki's website here)

School is out! First Day to Last Day Pics

A lot changed over the past 9 months!

(aside from the obvious)

Aug 23, 2011

May 31, 2012

We finally got everyone in the same place for 90 seconds to get them lined up.
It only took an hour and a half and ridiculous amounts of drama to get that picture.
You don't want to know.

The journey back

I'm in the process of trying to put all of those weekly belly pictures together so I can watch the progression from this:

to this:

Good thing I kept the lighting consistent, huh?  whoops.  In the future I'll try not to be so lazy and actually edit photos instead of posting them sooc.  In the meantime feel free to appreciate the inconsistent, bit too dark, outlet in the corner of the picture fabulousness that rivals my finger over the camera photos.

Now that baby's here, I'm also in the process of trying to get back to where I started from.
That first picture is actually at 10wks pregnant, so I'd be thrilled to get back to 10wks past where I started from!
Oy.
I'm trying to pretend that knowing how much work it will take doesn't scare me.

I am pleasantly surprised at how well my abs held up through this one.  Not thrilled with the number on the scale-I am NOT one of those people who loses all the weight in the first month-but that's ok.  Once I can get back to running (less than a week!), I know I will start to see it budge a little.
I promised Aaron, just like last time, that I would wait three weeks before trying to run again.
You'd think this would be easier than it was last time because I got to run literally until the day I delivered this time around.  Last time I was done running 4weeks before baby arrived.  That means that last time around I was off for 7 weeks, whereas this time I only have 3 weeks of really being off.

Can someone explain how it is that I'm more antsy to get back out there this time?
But let's be honest, when that day of freedom to run again rolls around in a few days, it's going to kill me to be more than a few feet away from this little creature.

*sigh*

True to last time around, I'm mapping the journey back to abs.  Unlike last time I'm hoping to do better at taking pictures regularly.  Aiming for weekly like I did in the buildup to the big belly...we'll see how diligent I am.

So far?

One week:

 Two weeks:

After taking one full week to rest (as much as you can when you have 9 kids and a hubby with a demanding schedule), I started back with walks at one week.  I have been able to up my pace considerably, going from a 17min/mile 2 mile walk the first day back out to just over a 14min/mile 4 mile walk a week later.  Yesterday I attempted Pilates again (ab separation was minimal, just one finger width apart which means I'm good to go!), pleased with how my body responded, amazed at how much oblique strength is lost during pregnancy.  I also started venturing back toward the daily dose of pushups, and though I'm not up for the real thing yet I was able to knock out 5 sets of 20 "girl" pushups.  I'll take it.

Looking forward to a run this weekend, and hopefully a few good races by the end of the summer or early fall!

Old enough to drive

Not any of my children yet.  Thank goodness.

Do you realize how close that is for me though?  Hello!!  My oldest child will be old enough to get her learner's permit in less than a year and a half.
Oh my word.

So what's old enough to drive?

Aaron and I.
No, not us, US.


Last Tuesday, June 5th marked 16 years since our first date.

16 years from the first time I held his hand.
16 years from the butterflies.
16 years from me falling off a log while we were hiking.  Right after we'd discussed the fact that I had competed on my school's gymnastics team, and did best on....yep, that's right, beam.  Nice. (he still thinks I fell on purpose.  I still feel stupid that he thinks I would do that on purpose.)
16 years from that moment...when we knew it was something different.

Which also means that last week on June 6th we marked the day after our first date, the day that he showed up in the morning at my door to apologize to my parents for keeping me out too late (yes I got in trouble).
16 years from when I answered the door in PJs with mussed up hair and spit dried to my face (I figured it was a neighbor.  Apparently I also figured they knew me well enough that I didn't care how I appeared at the door).
16 years from me shutting the door in his face after I saw it was him and realized how I looked.
16 years from me reopening the door and after he asked if he could speak to my dad I uttered the beautiful words "Do you have a death wish?!"
16 years from him actually apologizing to my dad for keeping me out late, then leaving, followed by my dad laughing and asking me "did you know you have spit dried to your face?"

The last first date.
The best first date ever.

Yes, I still drool in my sleep.

How I spend my time now

Well, aside from nursing.

Who can resist taking 48903 pictures of a baby every day?
Not me.

Have you ever watched newborns waking up?  They make the best faces.
So I end up with fabulous little series like this:

^ This may be my favorite weird baby face picture of all time.

Five fabulous days old.

How was that already almost two weeks ago?
Dear time, please slow down.

The dust is settling...

Back to real life.
Actually I kind of had to make the jump back to real life pretty quickly this time around, thus disappearing from the online world for a while.

I took advantage of the two full days at the hospital, which is odd for me...someone who is usually chomping at the bit to get home well before 24hrs is up.  To be completely honest, this delivery was a little tiring.  I've done posterior babies before, but never all the way through delivery.  To go through with delivering a sunny side up baby was a little more difficult than I anticipated.  It actually took longer to get Emily out than it did to deliver Sam's giant head.  Completely not what I expected (shouldn't your ninth baby just kind of fall out?!), but oh well.  

I came home Sunday afternoon, and on Monday Aaron had to do a PICU shift (7am-7pm, which means leaving at 530 and getting home around 830) to work toward finishing his capstone hours.  I did get him home part of Tuesday and Wednesday before he did another PICU shift on Thursday.  So yeah...back to real life real quick.  

But I'm used to the chaos, so it's pretty much been the same old same old.

With frequent nursing breaks and a serious addition of cuteness.

This sweet little girl is amazing.  Such a treat!
Are babies ever not amazing though?

She really is a sweetheart.

The kids are madly in love with her, constantly asking to hold her or even just look at her while she sleeps.

I too am madly in love with her.

Can't get enough of the cheeks!