What a month we have had! It's so interesting - when exciting plans lie ahead, anticipation time goes very slowly, then once the plans have passed and routine resumes, I look back and feel like an entire month just disappeared.
In the middle of March, we moved two streets down on the Air Force Base. They're renovating all of the houses, and ours was up next, so we got to spend a week of life moving. Well, Yoni worked and I hung out with the movers who moved us. Me, Adina and Libby. Thankfully, we got a lot of help. For the first two days, Aunt Gwennie came to help out while the movers were actually here and everything got delivered to the new house, and then for the end of the week my stepmom came and was a HUMONGOUS help getting everything put away and organized. By Shabbat, our new house was livable. Then the beginning of the next week we headed down to Dallas for Pesach. We had a wonderful time with all the family down there. Unfortunately, Adina wasn't sleeping so wonderfully there, and we didn't realize until the very end that it was the matzah I ate that gave her horrible gas and tummy pains. Once we figured it out though, she started feeling much better. She brought a little cold home with her, further disturbing her sleep routine, but I think this week we're finally teaching her how much she likes to sleep through the night. She just needed a friendly little reminder...
So that brings us to now - the second half of April. Hard to believe!!
Yoni is on week #2 on the flight line in T-1's. He's had half a dozen flights so far and enjoying the new aircraft. He said it's a good bit more difficult to fly than the T-6, but he's facing the challenge well and working VERY hard. I have two weeks left of classes for the semester, so I've been spending my days doing homework, finishing some decorating in the new house, and taking Adina and Libby for walks in this gorgeous weather.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
It's been a long long time!
I apologize for how long it has been since we made a blog entry! I guess I could make the excuse that I was in my last month of pregnancy and then came home with an infant to care for, but really that's no excuse. That should really be all the more reason to make regular posts!
Since it has been quite some time, there is a lot to catch up on!
November and the first half of December were rather uneventful. Yoni continued training on the T-6 while anxiously awaiting fatherhood, and I did as much walking and yoga as possible while finishing up a semester of classes in hopes that this baby would want to come sooner rather than later.
Well, our little Adina had a mind of her own and she was born 9 days after her due date. However, with this timing she proved to be smarter than her Mom. For weeks I awaited labor "at any moment" (as the Dr. claimed) and anticipated calling all of our family from the hospital to tell them to come meet their grand-daughter. Over the week following the due date, our parents came to Enid, rather than awaiting a call from afar. Adina wanted as much family as possible to be present at the moment that she came into the world! Her Poppy likes to claim that she waited especially for him to arrive, as she was born about 24 hours after he came.
The night of her birth was actually quite a riot! My Mom had been here for a week, helping us immensely with cleaning and organizing the house and being here for moral support. Yoni's Mom had come the Thursday before to help us cook for Shabbat and spend some time with us, hoping labor would come at any minute. My Dad and stepmom came on Sunday evening, exactly one week past the due date. Now it was Monday evening, 7:00 PM and we all sat around the dinner table finishing our soup, awaiting spaghetti and meatballs. All of a sudden I fell silent and everyone looked at me. My Dad thought I had said something awkward and that explained the funny face. Finally after about 30 seconds of everyone looking at me like, "What's going on???" while I sat in shocked silence, I managed to say, "My water just broke..."
Of course that created quite the frenzy with four parents all sitting around the table! For the next hour, everyone bustled around the house trying to help us get everything ready while Yoni ate his dinner and took a shower and I drank as much water as possible to hydrate myself for the upcoming night of labor! We weren't in such a hurry to rush to the hospital, because contractions had not yet begun. The parents did not want to wait too long though, as I had been dilated to 5 cm. for over a week already, so there was no telling how quickly labor could progress once it began.
At 8:15 PM we arrived at the hospital (about a five minute drive away) and got settled into our room. The doula, Sarah, met us at the hospital and helped us throughout the whole process. I'm going to spare you all of the gory details, but in short labor really began around 9:00 PM, got painful around 11:00 PM, and our beautiful little girl came into the world at 12:38 AM on Tuesday morning, December 22, 2009. Thank G-d, the entire process went smoothly and quickly. I was able to deliver her without any medication. Our nurse was actually unusually traditional and allowed me to go through almost all of labor out of bed, and never even made me get a hep-lock. They took a bit of blood upon admission to the hospital, and besides that I never had to see another needle. Having Sarah there made the entire experience so much more enjoyable and doable. I HIGHLY recommend a doula to anybody attempting a natural childbirth!
Right after Adina's birth, Yoni cut the cord and I got to hold her and nurse her for over an hour. Then all of the grandparents that had been waiting so *patiently* in the waiting room (well, they began in the waiting room, and had since creeped closer and closer to the delivery room with excitement each time they heard more news) came to meet our little miracle.
Here's a picture of her from those first few hours, laying on me:
That following week seems like a bit of a blur. We came home from the hospital around noon on Wednesday, and for the remainder of the week, my life consisted of feeding her every three hours and getting sleep whenever possible. Siblings and some friends came over the weekend for her baby naming on Sunday. It meant a lot to have so many people here to celebrate with us. Since it was a fast day, we got a minyan on base for the mincha Torah reading and had a bagels and lox seudah (festive meal) to break the fast. During the Torah reading, Yoni named our daughter Adina Rachel. Adina is a Hebrew word which means "gentle/delicate." This fits her so well, especially the way she always so delicately places her hands around her face:
We also chose this name in memory of my Bubby whose Yiddish name was Danya, or Dina in Hebrew.
Her middle name, Rachel, came to me hours after her birth in the hospital as very fitting. Out of the dozen names on our list, this one wasn't even on there, but for some spiritual reason, she's meant to be a Rachel.
That following week, all of our family left, and Yoni and I found ourselves alone with our brand new little baby. It actually felt surprisingly natural rather quickly. We now have a three person (and one dog) family.
Speaking of Libby, she LOVES Adina! She always wants to be in the room with her. Often this is to try to lick spit up and poop explosions, but she also definitely has a sense of protecting her. When I'm holding Adina in the chair, Libby either sits right next to me or lays at my feet with her bone. If Adina's in another room and begins to cry, Libby runs in and looks at me to make sure I'm doing what I can to make Adina happy. I have a feeling in no time at all they will be very good friends.
Before we brought Adina home, we sent our parents home with her first blanket to give to Libby, so that she could become familiar with her smell. Until we came home, and then for days afterward, Libby kept the blanket on her bed and cuddled with it all the time. It wasn't until we had been home for many weeks when she finally started chewing it a bit.
Yoni did not have to go back to work until January 5th, so we still had a good few days left to bond as a family. He went back on Adina's 2-week birthday, and I had my first day home alone with a dog and a baby! Thankfully, it went much more smoothly than I had expected. Adina sleeps most of the day and as long as she was in my arms she was happy. The hardest part of that first week was that Libby got a little stir-crazy, as it was too cold for me to take Adina out in the stroller, so I couldn't walk Libby or play fetch with her at all. Over the next few weeks, the temperature picked up a bit, enough so I could bundle Adina in the stroller and bring Libby to the field to play fetch with her friend Spice.
We've spent these past few weeks getting to know our adorable daughter.
Here are good pictures of her with Mommy and Daddy:
She's growing quickly and we're trying to cherish every moment! Last Thursday, at 5 1/2 weeks old, she smiled for the first time, at her Daddy! Since that first smile, she's been full of smiles!! It was perfect timing, because her Poppy and Grandma came to visit this weekend, and they got to spend a whole day with a smily beautiful little girl.
Over the past week, I finally put the finishing touches on her nursery, and we installed the video monitor.
She's begun taking naps in her crib during the day, and hopefully over the next week or so we'll transition her from the bassinet in our room to the crib at night. Her sleeping's been decent for a baby her age, but we're still trying to work on her consistency. About 3-4 nights a week, she'll give me a five hour stretch, followed by another three or four hours. Then there are a couple nights of multiple three hour stretches, and we still have about one night a week where she wants to be held all night and cries minutes after I put her down every time. Hopefully the transition to her crib and a good bedtime routine in her own room will help her start becoming more consistent in her sleep pattern. Her daytime routine is solid. She eats, burps, gets a new diaper, plays for 30-60 minutes with Mommy, then sleeps for a solid two hours until she starts the whole process again.
Whenever she's fussy, I wear her around the house in my Moby wrap, which is the best invention ever! It calms her immediately, and usually puts her to sleep within minutes. Some of her best naps are in there. It kind of makes me feel pregnant again, but at least now I can look down and see her cute face instead of seeing a big belly!
I hope to update soon and reverse my pattern of blog delinquency! Until then, I'll leave you with my favorite picture of Adina Rachelli after bathtime (which she loves!)
Since it has been quite some time, there is a lot to catch up on!
November and the first half of December were rather uneventful. Yoni continued training on the T-6 while anxiously awaiting fatherhood, and I did as much walking and yoga as possible while finishing up a semester of classes in hopes that this baby would want to come sooner rather than later.
Well, our little Adina had a mind of her own and she was born 9 days after her due date. However, with this timing she proved to be smarter than her Mom. For weeks I awaited labor "at any moment" (as the Dr. claimed) and anticipated calling all of our family from the hospital to tell them to come meet their grand-daughter. Over the week following the due date, our parents came to Enid, rather than awaiting a call from afar. Adina wanted as much family as possible to be present at the moment that she came into the world! Her Poppy likes to claim that she waited especially for him to arrive, as she was born about 24 hours after he came.
The night of her birth was actually quite a riot! My Mom had been here for a week, helping us immensely with cleaning and organizing the house and being here for moral support. Yoni's Mom had come the Thursday before to help us cook for Shabbat and spend some time with us, hoping labor would come at any minute. My Dad and stepmom came on Sunday evening, exactly one week past the due date. Now it was Monday evening, 7:00 PM and we all sat around the dinner table finishing our soup, awaiting spaghetti and meatballs. All of a sudden I fell silent and everyone looked at me. My Dad thought I had said something awkward and that explained the funny face. Finally after about 30 seconds of everyone looking at me like, "What's going on???" while I sat in shocked silence, I managed to say, "My water just broke..."
Of course that created quite the frenzy with four parents all sitting around the table! For the next hour, everyone bustled around the house trying to help us get everything ready while Yoni ate his dinner and took a shower and I drank as much water as possible to hydrate myself for the upcoming night of labor! We weren't in such a hurry to rush to the hospital, because contractions had not yet begun. The parents did not want to wait too long though, as I had been dilated to 5 cm. for over a week already, so there was no telling how quickly labor could progress once it began.
At 8:15 PM we arrived at the hospital (about a five minute drive away) and got settled into our room. The doula, Sarah, met us at the hospital and helped us throughout the whole process. I'm going to spare you all of the gory details, but in short labor really began around 9:00 PM, got painful around 11:00 PM, and our beautiful little girl came into the world at 12:38 AM on Tuesday morning, December 22, 2009. Thank G-d, the entire process went smoothly and quickly. I was able to deliver her without any medication. Our nurse was actually unusually traditional and allowed me to go through almost all of labor out of bed, and never even made me get a hep-lock. They took a bit of blood upon admission to the hospital, and besides that I never had to see another needle. Having Sarah there made the entire experience so much more enjoyable and doable. I HIGHLY recommend a doula to anybody attempting a natural childbirth!
Right after Adina's birth, Yoni cut the cord and I got to hold her and nurse her for over an hour. Then all of the grandparents that had been waiting so *patiently* in the waiting room (well, they began in the waiting room, and had since creeped closer and closer to the delivery room with excitement each time they heard more news) came to meet our little miracle.
Here's a picture of her from those first few hours, laying on me:
That following week seems like a bit of a blur. We came home from the hospital around noon on Wednesday, and for the remainder of the week, my life consisted of feeding her every three hours and getting sleep whenever possible. Siblings and some friends came over the weekend for her baby naming on Sunday. It meant a lot to have so many people here to celebrate with us. Since it was a fast day, we got a minyan on base for the mincha Torah reading and had a bagels and lox seudah (festive meal) to break the fast. During the Torah reading, Yoni named our daughter Adina Rachel. Adina is a Hebrew word which means "gentle/delicate." This fits her so well, especially the way she always so delicately places her hands around her face:
We also chose this name in memory of my Bubby whose Yiddish name was Danya, or Dina in Hebrew.
Her middle name, Rachel, came to me hours after her birth in the hospital as very fitting. Out of the dozen names on our list, this one wasn't even on there, but for some spiritual reason, she's meant to be a Rachel.
That following week, all of our family left, and Yoni and I found ourselves alone with our brand new little baby. It actually felt surprisingly natural rather quickly. We now have a three person (and one dog) family.
Speaking of Libby, she LOVES Adina! She always wants to be in the room with her. Often this is to try to lick spit up and poop explosions, but she also definitely has a sense of protecting her. When I'm holding Adina in the chair, Libby either sits right next to me or lays at my feet with her bone. If Adina's in another room and begins to cry, Libby runs in and looks at me to make sure I'm doing what I can to make Adina happy. I have a feeling in no time at all they will be very good friends.
Before we brought Adina home, we sent our parents home with her first blanket to give to Libby, so that she could become familiar with her smell. Until we came home, and then for days afterward, Libby kept the blanket on her bed and cuddled with it all the time. It wasn't until we had been home for many weeks when she finally started chewing it a bit.
Yoni did not have to go back to work until January 5th, so we still had a good few days left to bond as a family. He went back on Adina's 2-week birthday, and I had my first day home alone with a dog and a baby! Thankfully, it went much more smoothly than I had expected. Adina sleeps most of the day and as long as she was in my arms she was happy. The hardest part of that first week was that Libby got a little stir-crazy, as it was too cold for me to take Adina out in the stroller, so I couldn't walk Libby or play fetch with her at all. Over the next few weeks, the temperature picked up a bit, enough so I could bundle Adina in the stroller and bring Libby to the field to play fetch with her friend Spice.
We've spent these past few weeks getting to know our adorable daughter.
Here are good pictures of her with Mommy and Daddy:
She's growing quickly and we're trying to cherish every moment! Last Thursday, at 5 1/2 weeks old, she smiled for the first time, at her Daddy! Since that first smile, she's been full of smiles!! It was perfect timing, because her Poppy and Grandma came to visit this weekend, and they got to spend a whole day with a smily beautiful little girl.
Over the past week, I finally put the finishing touches on her nursery, and we installed the video monitor.
She's begun taking naps in her crib during the day, and hopefully over the next week or so we'll transition her from the bassinet in our room to the crib at night. Her sleeping's been decent for a baby her age, but we're still trying to work on her consistency. About 3-4 nights a week, she'll give me a five hour stretch, followed by another three or four hours. Then there are a couple nights of multiple three hour stretches, and we still have about one night a week where she wants to be held all night and cries minutes after I put her down every time. Hopefully the transition to her crib and a good bedtime routine in her own room will help her start becoming more consistent in her sleep pattern. Her daytime routine is solid. She eats, burps, gets a new diaper, plays for 30-60 minutes with Mommy, then sleeps for a solid two hours until she starts the whole process again.
Whenever she's fussy, I wear her around the house in my Moby wrap, which is the best invention ever! It calms her immediately, and usually puts her to sleep within minutes. Some of her best naps are in there. It kind of makes me feel pregnant again, but at least now I can look down and see her cute face instead of seeing a big belly!
I hope to update soon and reverse my pattern of blog delinquency! Until then, I'll leave you with my favorite picture of Adina Rachelli after bathtime (which she loves!)
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