Aubrey is born.

Aubrey Constance was born at 7:25 PM on Tuesday, May 27th. She weighed 8 pounds 6 ounces and was 20 inches long. She's adorable! Her hair is a light brown color and her eyes are blue except she's kind of missing eyelashes and eyebrows - they are so blond in color they are barely present!

She makes squeaky noises when she sleeps - and boy does she like to sleep ALOT! She's a great eater and as of today had only lost 6 ounces - so she came home weighing 8 pounds.

We arrived home around 3:30 today!

Sophia is an amazing big sister already and makes sure Aubrey has a Little Lamby with her when she's sleeping. She's given her kisses and today she actually wanted to hold her before we left the hospital.

Take a look at all the pictures so far.

Organized Labor

DoubleUIDoubleLIam here again ...

After a laborious 9 hours, a life-saving epidural and 3 posicles (2 graphe, one cherry) the Toughest Woman Alive has finally reached 9 cm of dilation. The goal of the whole game is to get to 10 and then the fun part happens. The Doctor said that out of 11 patients in the ward today, Shirley is the only one cooperating.

The Good News couldn't have come at a better time since I think Shirley was starting to lose a little bit of hope.

The doctor said he'd come back at 1900, check again and we'd probably start the Push.

I just have to say that my theory about dilation not being linearly related to time has proven true yet again. It took 4 hours to go from 2-4 and only 3 to get from 4-9. Explaining the nuance of exponential relationships to a laboring woman, however, not a Good Idea.

Welcome to the Labor and Delivery Wing of SVBGH

Will here everybody ....

This is my first blog entry and I'm being watched like a hawk by the true owner of the VB Alexander Baby Blogs. Much like the Chinese, I"ll be censored during this post.

Shirley is laboring quite well at this time. She's 80% effaced and is 4-5 cm dilated (who can tell the difference between 1 cm?). She's on the Oxytocin and we're waiting for the anestheisologiest to administer the epidural.

They broke her water about 45 minutes ago and the contrtactions are now as low as 6 minutes apart.

Our nurse and doctor are both really nice and think we'll be out of here before their shifts end at 7 and 8 respectively. We're both extremely hopeful they're right.

Sophia is at the aquarium with Laura, our Auntie For Hire. It's Toddler Tuesday over there so we're pretty sure she'll have a great time. Hopefully she'll be well-rested for her visit to see Mom and Sissy later today or tomorrow.

I'm sitting around like a typical third wheel and have been tasked with such important things like picking out which movie to watdh and getting gum. Both of those are well within my skill-sets so as long as things don't get much tougher for me I'll be all right. (Surely everyone is most concerned with my status right now ...)


Q&A With a Laboring Mother

Q: First of all, how does it feel to surrender the the blog to an amateur?
A: Unsettling.

Q: Is labor easier this time?
A: Yes.

Q: How much longer?
A: Who do you think I am? Benjamin Linus?

Q: Do you need anything right now?
A: An Epidural!

Q: What are you going to name her?
A:

Welcome to the Labor and Delivery Wing of SVBGH

Will here everybody ....

This is my first blog entry and I'm being watched like a hawk by the true owner of the VB Alexander Baby Blogs. Much like the Chinese, I"ll be censored during this post.

Shirley is laboring quite well at this time. She's 80% effaced and is 4-5 cm dilated (who can tell the difference between 1 cm?). She's on the Oxytocin and we're waiting for the anestheisologiest to administer the epidural.

They broke her water about 45 minutes ago and the contrtactions are now as low as 6 minutes apart.

Our nurse and doctor are both really nice and think we'll be out of here before their shifts end at 7 and 8 respectively. We're both extremely hopeful they're right.

Sophia is at the aquarium with Laura, our Auntie For Hire. It's Toddler Tuesday over there so we're pretty sure she'll have a great time. Hopefully she'll be well-rested for her visit to see Mom and Sissy later today or tomorrow.

I'm sitting around like a typical third wheel and have been tasked with such important things like picking out which movie to watdh and getting gum. Both of those are well within my skill-sets so as long as things don't get much tougher for me I'll be all right. (Surely everyone is most concerned with my status right now ...)


Q&A With a Laboring Mother

Q: First of all, how does it feel to surrender the the blog to an amateur?
A: Unsettling.

Q: Is labor easier this time?
A: Yes.

Q: How much longer?
A: Who do you think I am? Benjamin Linus?

Q: Do you need anything right now?
A: An Epidural!

Q: What are you going to name her?
A:

Strawberry Festival

Another successful Strawberry Festival is behind us. We made it there in time for Sophia's first parade on Saturday morning. She loved sitting on Will's shoulders to watch the cars and floats drive by and she became especially excited when they had costumed characters on them. She waved to Miss Va Beach, Miss Teen Va Beach, Miss Pre-Teen Va Beach, AND Little Miss Va Beach as they went by in their convertibles. (And honestly, there were two extra cars for Mrs Philippines Va Beach and Little Miss Philippines Va Beach which puzzled me. Who knew?) When the bands marched by she couldn't get enough of the drums, trumpets and flag girls. Overall, I'd say she enjoyed the parade the most.

We walked around the festival and tried some giant chocolate covered strawberries, listened to a little live music and did some serious people-watching. We took Sophia inside the stinky petting zoo and spent some time admiring the filthy, lonely cows. She sat on a kiddie-tractor and a cow. Last year she touched the baby duck and this year she wasn't interested. We went into the "ride/carnival" area and let her try a few games - "fish" and "pick a duck". One game booth had a giant Barney that she pointed out to us. Will quickly figured out that he would have to win 24 times in a row to actually win that Barney doll. It was the "throw the dart and break a balloon" booth.

I brought home a strawberry crumb pie and it's delicious. Will has eaten 1 piece to my three so far. I've got 1/2 a pie to eat in the next 24 hours! Yummy!!!

Take a look at all of the pictures from the festival.

Baby should be here on Tuesday!!!

I had an appointment yesterday morning and was still 2cm and about 50% effaced. So, no progress, but I had expected that. I've felt great for the past week.

The doctor offered me an induction date for next week since I will have reached my due date and because I've already had a successful delivery before. Soooo...drum roll.....we're scheduled to begin labor at 7:30 AM on Tuesday.

If you ask me, it can't get any better than that. We can have an awesome long weekend together as a family of 3 and then welcome baby girl on Tuesday. Hopefully if labor is going to start on it's own it will wait until Monday evening. I really want to go to the Strawberry Festival tomorrow. I also think we should take Sophia to the Botanical Sprinkler Garden one day. And, I'd like to go out to dinner one last time (actually I wouldn't mind a few times) :-)

Sophia is a Taurus. I just found this Taurus description from a post I wrote when we were waiting her arrival two years ago. Let's see how she measures up:

Taurus (the Bull) = April 21 - May 21.
Traditional Taurus Traits Are:
Patient and reliable: False, but it's reliable that she's NOT patient
Warmhearted and loving: True, true, true. She loves to cuddle.
Persistent and determined: True!
Placid and security loving: I would say true.

On the dark side....
Jealous and possessive: We'll see when her sister arrives.
Resentful and inflexible: At times this can be true.
Self-indulgent and greedy: Self-indulgent - true. Greedy - False.

Sophia's sister will be a Gemini.

Gemini (the Twins) = May 22 - June 21.
Traditional Gemini Traits Are:
Adaptable and versatile
Communicative and witty
Intellectual and eloquent
Youthful and lively

On the dark side....
Nervous and tense
Superficial and inconsistent
Cunning and inquisitive

This is the Aquadoodle toy that Haley gave to Sophia for her b'day. It's a water pen and doesn't make any mess at all and she loves it. I showed her how to trace her hand and now that's the only thing she wants to do!

Will showed her how to make her footprint in play doh last night (with his help) and this morning I found her pulling off her socks and stepping into the play doh (all by SELF). Hmmm....what will she get into next?

Opening Birthday Presents

After Sophia woke up from her nap yesterday afternoon she got to open the presents from her party. I think I took a video of each present, so you can click on the links below to view the videos.

As you will see....each time she unwrapped a present she wanted to OPEN and or play with it right then and there. She obviously inherited her mother's patience.

Look at the excitement in this face!

Present from Avery

Present from Clara

Present from Lola Grace and Jackson (the twins)

Present from Liana and Lorenzo (they couldn't make it to the party)

Present from Lauren and Olivia (the two taller girls in the group photos)

Present from Haley (she was sick and couldn't make it)

Present from Daisy

Present from Liaba and Amayr

Birthday Party

Sophia had a blast at her birthday party. She certainly was treated like a "Queen". It was a wonderful place to have her party. We literally didn't have to do anything except show up with our cake and drinks. The My Gym girls cut and served the cake and took drink orders. It was fantastic!

I took a lot of pictures, none of them great, but you can see how much fun everyone was having. I have tons of movies to upload, but don't have them ready yet. Look for them soon...

Still here

Monday is 1/2 over and I'm still hanging around like a big pregnant lady! So, I don't think today will be her birthday.

NAMES - Um, we're pretty much 98% sure that we know her name, but it could certainly change too. I've been 99% sure on a few others (some you've heard and some you haven't) and then changed my mind.

I know the name poll is not over yet, and we're currently voting on the name Elisabeth, but I thought I would show you just how the Name Poll has played out so far. I have a really neat looking spreadsheet that I'm trying to turn into an image so I can post it on the blog, but for now......

Based only on poll votes - her name would either be Hannah Alexis or Hannah Ashley. Hannah is the clear winner so far. Alexis and Ashley tied with 8 Love it's each. I can 100% assure you that her name is not going to be either of those combinations.

Hilary was just as unpopular as Hannah was popular - each receiving 11 votes. You also hated Daisy, Lillia, Willow Rose and Eden.

You didn't mind Vanessa, Julia or Alyssa.

Full moon is coming.....

Earlier today I predicted that this little baby is going to be born on Monday! I just found out there is going to be a full moon on Tuesday. Maybe just maybe this baby will be born early this week!

I'm pretty sure I'm having some early labor symptoms...fun fun!

Last time my water broke at midnight on the full moon. Of course, we didn't meet Sophia for another 23.5 hours, but that's a whole different story!

Sophia's Beautiful Birthday Cake

You may remember Sophia's b'day cake from last year! Well, this year's cake is even better! I LOVE IT. I'll take more pictures of it tomorrow at the party.

Bad mood for Avery's b'day

We went to Avery's 1st birthday party today. She actually turned 1 on May 15. Avery is so cute and petite!

Sophia was a bear today, but she's getting one of those pesky molars and that always puts her in rare, mean, nasty form! She singled out one girl and pushed her down every time she saw her. It was especially frustrating for me because the little girl (15 months) she was picking on just happened to be born with a cleft palate and has gone through some rather rough looking surgeries, but Sophia doesn't know that! Goodness, does she?


Just look at this grumpy girl.



I really hope she's nice to everyone tomorrow at her birthday party! We had a play date last week with Rajchel from Sophia's swimming lesson class. Every time Sophia saw her at the pool she would immediately push her down. The girls haven't seen each other for over 2 months and the first thing Sophia did was push Rajchel to the ground.

I think I've narrowed down her targets: Girls age 15-18 months or about that size. We'll have 4 at the party tomorrow! Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Two Birthday Videos

I finally had a chance to upload the two random videos we took on Sophia's birthday.

This one was taken at Chuck E. Cheese's.


This one was taken while Sophia opened her two presents. She got a set of alphabet blocks and she got these two baby doll bottles.

Roller Coaster pictures

We finally had a chance to take some pictures last night when Sophia was outside "riding" the roller coaster from Grancy and Big Daddy.

She like pushing the car back up the track, but her favorite thing is trying to slide down the track on her butt.

Take a look at all the pictures.

Birthday pics.....

Click to view all the pictures.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Sophia

Two years ago (at 11:27 PM) Sophia became part of the Alexander Family. It certainly doesn't feel like 2 years have passed, but amazingly we now have a full-fledged toddler on our hands!

We're having a rather "normal" day so far except both of us had to go to the doctors. I wanted total accuracy on Sophia's measurements so I scheduled her appointment for today. She didn't have to get any shots so I knew it wouldn't be bad. (No shots until she's 4!)

The birthday girl weighs in at 33.3 pounds putting her in the 97% for weight. She's 38 inches tall! She was so far off the charts in height the doctor couldn't even give an accurate %. I just looked it up and 38 inches is the 95% for kids just four months shy of turning 4. While she was standing on the table being examined by her doctor, she was touching the doctor on her head and shoulders and labeling her parts. It was adorable. They were examining each other. I asked the doctor to tell me, once and for all, how many more teeth we can expect - and the answer is........1 and 1/2. One nasty molar is breaking through right now and then she's only got one more to go! ....{that explains the 'Mommy-only' thing she's been doing lately and it explains why all of her toys go straight into her mouth right now}....

On the way home from the doctor we stopped at the grocery store for a b'day cake. Sophia picked out a little round white cake with pink icing balloons and bright orange trim. I would have picked the same one!

We came home, had lunch, ate some cake and then Sophia went to play at Riley's house while I went to a doctor. 2 weeks until we're due! I'm 2 cm dilated, but the doc said it didn't look like I'd be seeing him any time soon. (I have to say, I really thought I'd have her early, but now I'm changing my mind. I'm going to say she'll be a June baby.) UGG!


Sophia is taking a nap at the moment, but when she wakes up we are going to the mall. We're going to Build a Bear and then Daddy is going to meet us for dinner at Chuck E. Cheeses. Sophia has already told me that she's going to be scared of Chuck E.

When we get home this evening she can open the two little presents that I got her - alphabet blocks and baby bottles for her dolls. I assuming she's going to be really into her babies once our new little arrives.

Her true b'day party is on Sunday. We're all looking forward to it.

Phrases

Some of our new favorites are:

1) Happy Birthday Party (we can't figure this one out)

2) Outta Here, Daddy or Sadie or Mommy (this means Get out of here, I want to play by myself)

3) Lookin' at Sophia (she says this when one of her stuffed animals is looking at her)

4) Thank you, Mommy (when I give her a drink...how polite!)

She knows something's up

As stated previously, this could just be chalked up to the Terrible Two's phase, but I think Sophia's fully aware of what's about to happen and I think she's milking her situation.

All of a sudden she's become very clingy to Mommy. She wants to cuddle all day long. She only wanted Mommy to change her diaper last night. She insisted that I carry her around in Target today. She didn't want to walk/run/ride in cart.

We'll see as the days go on and more and more starts to change around her. We're going to install the infant seat into the back of the Explorer and probably put one of her baby dolls in it until the real thing arrives.

Sophia goes for her 2 year baby check up tomorrow morning and I can't wait to see how "off the charts" she is for her age!

37 weeks 5 days

I'm 37 weeks and 5 days pregnant right now.

I will see the doc on Wednesday afternoon to see if I'm starting to dilate at all. I'm looking forward to finding out and to hearing what the doc has to say about it. At this point all I can think about is having this baby.

Still need to:
1) finish painting the nursery...just want to get the room complete before she arrives so we don't have to worry about it afterwards.
2) get Sophia a new dresser/changing table. Since she'll be transitioning to her toddler bed and it's white so I figured we should get her a white dresser. The baby is going to get her old dresser and her crib.
3) get a rocker/glider and ottoman for the nursery.
4) pick a name! This one is stressing me out the most.

Sophie and her playmate, Riley

Sophia had a little playmate come over on Friday morning while her Mom took care of something. Riley, 15 months, is one of our neighbors. She just learned how to walk and loved doing laps around our house. Sophia really enjoyed sharing all of her kitchen toys and baby dolls. The girls didn't really play together, but I noticed that Sophia was definitely more interested at interacting than Riley.

See the rest of the pictures.

Mommy and Sophia

OK - I bit the bullet and took Sophia to have her picture taken with my big prego belly. Enjoy the pics.

Update on Baby Girl

Yay! I'm officially full term now! 37 weeks is full term which means that baby's lungs are developed and if she was born now she would be fine. We actually got to see her "practicing her breathing" on the Ultrasound today.

We got a great report today after the Ultrasound. We didn't get to see her face this time because she's "ready to come out and meet us" and she's in position. We did see a hand and an ear and her heart beating (143 BPM). The Ultrasound tech told us that she had a full bladder too.

They predicted that the baby currently weighs 6 pounds 4 ounces and will probably gain 1.5 pounds over the next 3 weeks. That puts her somewhere in the 7+ pound mark. Sophia was 8 pounds 13 ounces - and 5 days late.

Either way - Will told me tonight that he needs two more weeks to get ready at work. I'm torn. I want to meet this little girl, but since she doesn't have a name yet, I'm OK waiting a few more weeks too.

WOW!

Sophia and I spend the morning at the Sprinkler Garden yesterday with her little friend, Daisy, and Daisy's mom, Ali. The girls had a blast! It was Daisy's first time and she really enjoyed the sprinklers. Sophia was so independent yesterday...I think she was showing off a bit, but it was cute. She was running around as if she owned the place and was naming the alphabet letters as she saw them in around the path.

Sophia wore her little pink SPF50 sun suit that I got her last summer. As you can tell she's out grown it a bit. Love that belly!!!

See all the pics.

Pictures from our walk

This RABBIT is hanging from a tree on our street. Every time we take a walk Sophia's got to get out of the stroller to PUSH the RABBIT. She asks us to take him OFF the swing. She says BYE to him and waves as we walk away. She's been asking me to take her PICTURE with him for a few days now and I finally remembered the camera.





We kept walking to the entrance to Castleton where Sophia and Will played on the hill and then walked across the stone wall. This is a favorite activity. We usually let Sophia walk all the way from our house to the entrance and by that point she's ready to get into the stroller and let Mom do the rest of the work.






We saw this little baby bird on the ground under a tree. How sad. I don't think he's going to make it and we didn't even see his nest in the tree.

Mom and Sophia

It's too bad the first picture is a bit blurry. It's really cute. From looking at these pictures I don't think Sophia looks like me at all. In fact, is that what I really look like???

Getting close and no name yet!

How funny is this...I was just looking at blog entries from almost exactly 2 years ago when I was "just about due with Sophia" and I read a couple of interesting things:

1) I was sleeping just as crappy 2 years ago, but back then I was super swollen and my hands/fingers were getting numb all the time. This time I haven't had a single ailment/ache other than feeling worn out at the end of each day. I'd already put on a lot of weight by then for heading toward the disgusting grand total of 61 pounds at the end! HOLY SNIKEYS!! This time I'm holding steady at 27 pounds so far. That's much more realistic if you ask me.

2) On April 12, 2006 a blog entry was published announcing our decision on her name: Sophia Amber Alexander. If you compare the time frame exactly with this pregnancy, that wold have been a few days ago! This time we're nowhere near deciding on a name. Honestly, nothing is jumping out at me yet and Will seems to cling to one for a while and then jumps ship to cling to another. Ocassionaly I'll ask him to tell me his favorite name of the day. Mine changes each time. He's been stuck on Ashley for a while, but only after he got over Alexis as a first name.

The playground

We went to the playground this afternoon. Sophia had a great time and there was a nice breeze blowing so it kept us cool.

See all the pictures.

Now I know my ABC's

Sophia and I were exploring some toys that have been out of sight for a few months and we found her two sets of magnetic alphabet letters. I tried my best to put both sets in the correct order, but we are really missing quite a few. I suspect the missing letters are under the refrigerator and will probably make an appearance at some point in the far-off future.

Sophia has been really practicing her alphabet lately and when I did finally find the letter C and offered it to her - she put it in the correct spot in the line up! How awesome is that for a 1-year old!!!??? Here's a closer look:

SEE

Sophia runs into the bathroom anytime she wants to hop up on the stool and take a look at herself in the mirror. Usually it's after she's eaten a Popsicle or something she knows is going to make her tongue a funky color. This morning I saw her running in there because she had put a puffy sticker on each cheek and she wanted to see herself!

Our big month has finally arrived!

It's May 1 and what a big month we have planned.

Sophia turns 2 this month and she also gets a sister...at least she better get her sister this month. Mom doesn't feel like waiting one second beyond May 28th for this little girl. Sophia was 5 days late. If that happens with this baby then she'll have a June b'day.

She also needs a name......we absolutely haven't even come close to deciding on a name yet.

We'll see. On this coming Tuesday, I will be 37 weeks and finally considered FULL TERM. So, anytime after Tuesday works for me, except the following days:

May 14 - Sophia's b'day. Who wants to share?
May 15 - Aunt Claire's b'day. Again, who wants to share?
May 18 - Sophia's b'day party this year.
May 24-26 - The Pungo Strawberry Festival.

Actually, now that I think about it, May 11th would be a nice day. Then it could be on Mother's Day again.