Stinkeye

My friend Chantal dressed her.

I do not know where she got the overalls.

The Outtake

"She's cute. Can I have your cookie, Daddy?"

&

"woah, these white flappy things are hypnotizzzzzzZZZzzz *snore*"

Flashback (22 months ago)

Serafina meeting Viviana

April 7th 2010

Serafina meeting Philippa

February 7th 2008

Miss...

Viviana Eve Maria J.

You may call her Viv, Vivbabe, Via, Vivi, or, if you must, Viviana.

Her first name is all her own, we don't know anybody with that name. In all honestly, an unimportant scene in Pretty Woman was my inspiration. Her middle name, Eve, is my paternal Great Grandmothers name, and Maria is for her two Great Grandma Mary's.

We're Home!

We got home a couple hours ago, the kids were already asleep. I'm feeling okay, I stayed up until 5:30 AM last night because I was so excited, the adrenaline rush post-birth is unreal. I slept until 2, waking up to feed her whenever she was hungry. Her Grandmas hung out with her so I didn't have to send her to the nursery. The hospital said I could stay two more nights if I wanted, and I actually considered staying, at least tonight, but then I counted the number of times they've checked something, usually every 90 minutes, and I decided I would be more comfortable at home. So we left at 7:50, and stopped at Panera, Nick ran in to get our order and I breastfed in the back seat. We got home a few minutes after the kids fell asleep, which was great because if they'd seen us come in tonight they'd still be up and excited and I would be dead. So I'm glad it worked out this way.

For now we're relaxing. Nick is sleeping, because he hasn't slept at all since I went into labor on Sunday. I'm resting, breastfeeding, sending out e-mails, addressing the envelopes for my Thank You cards, and picking out birth announcement cards. Gotta love this post-birth energy rush!

We've named her! We've got to make a few phone calls, but right after that I'll announce it here for far-away family members who aren't getting phone calls!

Finally!

Our beautiful baby has arrived!

It's a girl!!!

We have not called everyone announcing her arrival yet, and some people need to know her name before others. So family, you'll be receiving a phone call soon, or check back here in a few days.

7 Pounds 7 Ounces

20 Inches

April 5th 2010

5:25 PM

My water broke at 5:25 PM on Sunday and exactly 24 hours later we were finally able to hold her!

Hey, hormones!

Internet, I am way over 9 months pregnant. Which means that I am roughly the size of Texas. I dropped on Wednesday. Nick took a few pregnancy photos on Tuesday night and left for work early the next morning, I never got the chance to see him. When he got home on Wednesday night he asked where half the baby went. We took a few more pregnancy photos and comparing the two it is obvious that in 24 hours my belly, which was pretty high before, dropped to about my knees and went from a relatively perky and ball-like bump to a drooping smushed pillow lump.

I am so uncomfortable. I have had a decent pregnancy, I had morning sickness from weeks 7 to 17, and I get backaches a lot, which is to be expected because I injured my back as a teenager. I've been getting headaches occasionally that make me want to die, but that's it. I wasn't hormonal all the time, cravings were minimal, I had no health problems.

Now I am making up for it. Since the baby dropped I've been like a blimp full or hormones always wanting some food that's not in the house. I feel like absolute shit. Thank God Nick got April off work for the move/renovation, because I needed him home. I can't take care of the kids. I lay on the couch all day and watch TV while cramming food into my mouth. I ask Nick to get me Taco Bell, no, Chinese, no, Thai! Yes! Thai is what I want. Now. Go! So he goes, and I call him before he's even out of the driveway, No! I want KFC. Actually, just get me a large McDonalds Fries. And on and on and on until he gets to the most recent place I've requested food from and actually bought something, and stopped at three other places on the way home to pick up Chinese, Thai, and McDonalds Fries, because I got the best husband in the world. And when he gets home I cry because I feel so bad for making him go out and get stuff at midnight for me. And then I cry because I feel like crap. And Nick helps me go to the bedroom and brings my food in there and turns on the TV to my channel and hangs out with me while I whine. And when I fall asleep watching TV in bed he readjusts me so I won't wake up feeling like my muscles have been turned into a pretzel, he gets a blanket for me, turns off the TV, puts away the food, gets me a glass of water for when I wake up parched in the middle of the night, and then he goes and sleeps on the couch because he knows I need space.

I cry when I wake up to pee a few hours later and realize what he did. And when I go into the kitchen and make myself a bowl of cereal at 2 AM because I am starving, Nick wakes up and hangs out with me until I go back to sleep. And at 5 AM when I wake up to pee for the 7th time and go heat up some chinese that Nick brought home just in case I wanted some overnight, he wakes up again, and heats it up for me, and talks to me, and when I cry again he doesn't roll his eyes and tell me to go back to sleep, he stays and we talk about baby names and houses and how many bedrooms we need. And then I go back to bed and he stays up and cleans and takes care of the kids all day long and then takes them to my family's Easter Gathering 2010 (a big deal in my family) while I stay home and eat the 2 subway sandwiches, McDonalds Fries, KFC, Taco Bell, popcorn, and hot dogs that he made or got for me before he left. Because somehow I got the best husband in the world. And now I'm crying again.