Playing with Grandma Clara

Feeding Aurora

My feedings with Aurora start out like this:  I put the bottle nipple to her mouth.  Aurora refuses the bottle, scrunches up her face and sticks her tongue out as if to so say, "What the f-- is this?"  I laugh and say, "It's the same thing as last time, Sister."  Aurora opens her mouth and starts eating, no problem---until she falls asleep, bottle half-finished.

Aurora and Mobile

Photos by Adam

Window stickers

?

Week 3

Aurora Eyes

Dear Aurora,

You are 2 weeks old today!  We cannot believe how quickly the days have gone by.  So far, Adam, Richelle, Selesia and Grandma Clara (Cho) have gotten to meet you.  We are looking forward to introducing you to the rest of your family.  Grandma Clara and Auntie Lesia have been helping care for you and Brother as we settle in as a family of four.

My sweet little girl, you are such a happy addition to our family.  You spend a lot of time sleeping and making dirty diapers.  You wake up to eat every 3 hours or so and you often fall asleep before you've finished your bottle.

You are a mellow baby and only cry when you are pooping or hungry.  And if you are both hungry and poopy, you get very, very mad and insistent.  Instead of squeaking and cooing while you sleep, you are calm and quiet.  Well, you do grunt and occasionally make goat sounds when you're stretching your arms and arching your back. 

We love you so very much and we look forward to all the days (and nights) ahead.  Thank you for coming to us, Baby Sister.  We are so grateful to have you!

Love,
Daddy, Mommy and Adam  

Adam and Aurora

Adam Faces

Aurora's barrette

Stickers!

Lesia's shoes

Well, Hello!

Top Hat!

King Adam

Silk Sarong

Pirate Adam 2011

Shell's hat

Naming Our Loves

Because we had a request (and because everyone else is sleeping at the moment) I figured I'd go ahead and post a quick update about how we decided on Aurora's name.   It was actually not a long or difficult process due to the fact that we had already picked out the name when we were pregnant with Adam.

When it came to names for boys both Berta and I drew complete blanks - it took a lot of contemplation (and scanning lists of baby names) to find any that resonated with both of us.  We knew we wanted a winter reference in there somehow.  Adam very nearly ended up being named "Winter" - but we ended up getting cold feet (ha!) and decided the more non-traditional name might be better saved for his middle name.  Other boys names that had been on the list:

• Neil
• Ivan
• Edgar - as an aside, this is what inadvertently led us to Winter.  Roberta immediately thought "Edgar Allen" (obviously) in honor of Poe.  I jokingly said "Well, why not Edgar Winter?"  Voila we suddenly had something to build a name around!

Names for girls... well that was a completely different story.  Berta and I had both had first choices that didn't require even a moment's thought.  Berta has always loved Emma, I've always loved Aurora.  Lucky for me Emma has recently become very, very common - so Aurora became the leader of the pack.  Other names we had contemplated:

• Alice
• Freya/Freyia/Freyja - Awesome name, but bold.  We weren't sure we could handle raising a  Freya!
• Athena -   Ditto 
• Autumn - very nearly the winner and it kept to our cooler-weather theme.  However it sounds just a little too much like Adam - especially since he currently pronounces his name "A'am".

Roberta's middle name is Lee (as is her Dad's and a number of other family members) so of course we threw that into the pot of possible combinations.  We both thought that Aurora Lee sounded pleasant.  Two names down!

Finally, while working through the names we also tried to make sure the entire name flowed very well - even to the point of switching out Craig and Winston for each name, just to experiment with how they sounded.  This is part of what led us to think that it might be neat to let a boy take my last name and let a girl take Berta's.

  Aurora Lee Craig wouldn't have been a bad name at all, but I tend to not care for too many single-syllable names in a row.  Aurora Lee Winston flows a bit better and it also carries on the Winston naming mini-tradition.

Our Sleeping Beauty

Also - no, I did not latch onto the name Aurora via Sleeping Beauty.   She constantly falls asleep during feeding, however.  Doh!

Cho in the Same Brown Jacket

Adam at Week 11

Aurora at Week 2

Video at Home

Videos from the Hospital

Videos of Adam meeting Aurora on her birth day.

Aurora Lee Winston

We weren't 100% sure about how things were going to shake out over the weekend, but Monday was the day!

Born: September 10th, 2012 at 8:00 am.  8 lbs 8 oz.   19 inches long.

I call her little Berta

Happy Birthday Aurora!

Last NST Appointment Before Baby

Our fourth NST appointment at the hospital was on Friday.  Baby Girl was super-cooperative and we were able to get out of the hospital and over to Fudrucker's for lunch by 10:30a.  After lunch, we headed directly home, because we were expecting the delivery of our new washing machine and dryer.  Our washer had been going through a slow death over the summer and it finally had its last cycle on Wednesday.

Luckily, we'd already ordered a new washer and dryer over the previous weekend--taking advantage of Labor Day sales.  Because Little Sister was so cooperative, we confirmed her good health and accomplished the big todos for the day.  She had great NST results and the amniotic fluid measure even more than all the other appointments (9.9).  Yay!

Shell arrived on Friday night and this weekend, Daddy, Mommy and Auntie Shell are doing the last minute things to get ready for bringing Baby home.  I probably overdid it a little yesterday and I had a couple of contractions that were 15 minutes apart.  I rested on the futon and didn't have anymore after those two.  As difficult as it is, I'm letting my sister and Matt do all the furniture moving and lifting and vacuuming, etc.

We look good for tomorrow morning, but we're on Yellow alert since I started losing my mucus plug late yesterday.  No contractions today, but I'm starting to get hungry for lunch.  Next update to this blog will announce the arrival of our baby!

Last OB Appointment Before Baby's Birth Day

Today's OB appointment went well.  I didn't gain any weight since the last appointment and my blood pressure was higher than usual, but still within a healthy range.

Baby's heart rate was good.  I'm 3cm dilated.

Earlier this week, I started getting an itchy rash along with my new stretch marks.  The rash has spread a little on my lower abdomen and my doctor confirmed today that it is PUPPPs.  It's an annoying rash that is making it difficult for me to sleep at night, but it's not harmful to me or Baby.  It should go away shortly after delivery, so the only thing to do now is try to cope with the itchiness over the next few days.  Wish me luck!

Third NST Appointment

This morning's NST appointment at the hospital went very well and very quickly.  We were done with the testing in a record (for us) 30 minutes.  Baby was cooperative, waking up for just enough kicks to establish a good increase in her heart rate then back to napping so that we could get a good baseline. 

The ultrasound was good, showing an increase in amniotic fluid (near 9).  We're on track for September 10.  Our next NST appointment is on Friday morning.

Photo Post (Week 39)

Blowing bubbles in the heat

Huge!  At 38 weeks.

Adam's haircut.

One Week!

7 days before the scheduled c-section.