Gabriela's lastest pastime

Around the time of her birthday, Gabriela constantly played with her baby dolls. She has some infant diapers that she'd use over and over and over again. When she'd change the diaper, she'd fold up the "dirty" one, and place it carefully in our Diaper Genie. She would wrap the babies in their swaddling blankies, and even borrowed some of baby brother's onesies to change her dollies in and out of.

But lately, she's shifted gears. Blocks, baby! For a while, Gabriela was happy to play blocks, but this involved giving instructions to her mom and dad on what to build. But all of a sudden she started constructing her own buildings.  Her favorite things to build are cribs and bunk beds for her littlest dollies.  She is very particular - her houses must have doors and the cribs must have roofs.

The other day she wanted to build a house and the street, and the school and the farmer's market and the park for her people.  We are going to need some more blocks!!

It's so fun to see Gabriela using her imagination, building little towns for her dolls, and then having lots of fun and detailed conversations with them. 

Blog Update

Hi guys,

Now that our little Gabriela is here, we decided we should probably just update ONE blog. So from now on, we'll be posting the latest and greatest on our original blog:

http://www.laneandelena.blogspot.com/

Come learn about our adventures here :)

My Momma Brain and my Fabulous Husband

We were so prepared for our doctor appointment today. We planned to leave early, accounting for any traffic we might run into, and/or any baby feeding/changing delays that may have fallen upon us. Gabriela was a total doll and just hung out happily until it was time to leave, she stayed awake for the car ride and didn't make a peep, and fell asleep as soon as we got there. I was so proud of us for arriving early. Well, little did I realize we were a whole 30 minutes AND ONE WEEK early for our appointment. Whoops.

It wasn't an entirely useless trip. We went to this lounge area that they have and talked with a breastfeeding peer counselor for some tips. During that time, a couple of the midwives stopped by. I got to introduce my mom to the midwife who stayed with us all through the labor at the birth center and then the midwife who stayed with us all through the labor at the hospital (more later on the glorious birth story details). The midwives got to visit with us and the baby.

The best part though, was the report the Ebony gave to my mom about Lane. She said how wonderful he was supporting me through my labor - so much, that she wanted to record him to show to other dads that THIS was exactly what you were supposed to do. She also said if he's anything like he was during labor, that he was going to be a fabulous daddy. Of course, this was when I started crying.

Not only that, Lane brought his famous cookies to share with the midwives, which she said was the icing on the cake. Even more impressive though, was the fact that Lane made them racing back and forth from the kitchen and living room to help me through contractions every 5 or so minutes.

Man, I love that guy.

Our first few days

Gabriela was up all night her first night at home. It was kind of hard not knowing the best thing to do, and also because Lane ended up having to go back to work the next day and wake up at 5 am. Nana came to the rescue and helped us figure things out in the middle of the night.

We decided Gabriela must have been really gassy or something because she slept soooo much better last night. I felt more rested, but Lane was more tired. This was because he just couldn't stop looking at her, singing to her, or taking little videos of her instead of going to sleep.

Can you blame him?

We got a little adventurous yesterday and took a trip to Costco. Today we have an appointment at the Birth Center and tomorrow one at the pediatrician.

When I have more time, I'll post about our birth story.

Sleeping Gabriela

Here's Gabriela sleeping like a little baby.

And Nana holding her for the first time.

She's Finally HERE!

Baby Gabriela Elena Grover arrived on Sunday evening at 8:43 p.m. She was 8 lbs, 4.8 oz. and 21 inches long.

We think she is the most precious little girl ever.

Birth Center Update

Well, folks I called the midwives to tell them I was exhausted - the only sleep I've gotten in the past three nights has been drifting off to sleep for maybe 10 minutes at a time in between contractions and how frustrated I was and to ask what the heck I could do to get things going in the right direction.

The midwife on call was at the birth center and suggested we come in to talk about what we could do. She also said this was very typical for first time moms, and not to be TOO surprised or upset if I hadn't progressed much from my last exam on Thursday. Before we walked in the door Lane and I talked about how we shouldn't be focused or frustrated by what the midwife said. My focus was getting some tips from her.

She said I had gone from 1 cm Thursday to between 3 & 4 today, and that getting to 5 was the hardest part. After I'm there, I can be admitted to the center. My cervix is super duper soft and the baby is down low. She said she wouldn't be surprised at all if I was back there to deliver before the night is through. Let me just tell you that I burst into tears. I was so unprepared for GOOD news that I didn't know how to react. What a relief.

She says to focus on resting, eating every 2 hrs and drinking 8 oz every hour and sent me off with a big hug.

Baby isn't in the *best* position right now, but she gave us some tips to help encourage her to scooch into the right one.

And there you have it. Keep thinking those good thoughts - they are working!