Our baby girl is growing up!

     I fell asleep while feeding Harmony tonight.  I planned on going straight to bed after putting her down at 9:30 but decided it was time to record some thoughts and events in our lives.  I've been thinking lately that I need to be better about recording the day to day triumphs of mom, dad, and baby.  I have a record going of big "firsts", which just includes a date and the event, like "rolled over on such and such date", etc.  But, Harmony's life deserves more than just a date and 3 word description.  I had stopped blogging because it took so much time that it wasn't worth it to me, I figured I post lots of pictures on facebook and that is good enough.  But, I need to write things down.  So, write I will.
     Harmony is 7 1/2 months old and such a joy to be around.  Today was a HUGE first.  She pulled herself up!  She has been working at it for a few days, grabbing hold of things and pulling with her arms, trying her hardest to complete a pull up.  Today she was going after a box on the ottoman and I watched as she again tried to pull herself up, only this time she didn't stop when her chin got to her hands, she kept going and was quickly in a downward dog sort of position with her hands resting on the ottoman and her feet flat on the floor!  I went wild with excitement, cheering her on and clapping.  Seriously, I don't think I've ever been that excited or proud in my life.  Motherhood is amazing.  It's so awesome to get that legitimately excited and happy on such a regular basis as I watch Harmony grow and learn. After she got up once more she got stuck, not knowing how to get down.  I guided her to her knees and then picked her up to comfort her.  After she had calmed down from being scared of being stuck, I placed her on the floor against the couch, standing up.  I let go.  She kept standing.  In fact, she turned and used the ottoman for support instead as she reached for things.  It was so weird to see my baby girl standing up all by herself!  So weird to not have my hands on her, helping her stay up.  She was super proud of herself and rightfully so!
     Harmony seems to just in the last few weeks become so much older.  She's in full out baby mode rather than immobile infant.  I feel like she's outgrown a lot of her infant toys and have felt like she needs new toys to encourage her cognitive development so I have had fun shopping and buying her toys for the first time.  I bought her the classic donut stacking toy, a ball that has a motor and moves around, talking, singing, and lighting up, encouraging her to crawl after it, and a toy laptop since she ALWAYS wants mine.  It's fun seeing her get so excited about a new toy.  Toys R Us has become so much fun to me and I just get so excited thinking about all of the fun she is going to have in the coming years!
     Within the last 2 weeks she has become interested in water.  After eating solids I always take her to the sink to wash her hands and face.  She has learned this ritual and now when I turn the water on she sticks her hand under the faucet by herself.  I have always taken her by the pool and watched the fountains with her and just this past week she became interested in the water.  She LOVED laying on her stomach at the edge of the pool and splashing her hands in the water.  I held tight with two hands because she kept trying to crawl right in.  Two nights ago she started splashing up a storm in the bath for the first time.  She caught on to cause and effect and it was so much fun laughing with her and encouraging her to splash water everywhere.
      She's growing fast.  She was a tall petite baby for the longest time.  At her 6 month check up she was 14 lbs 10 oz.  She was 8 lbs 7 oz. at birth so she hadn't even doubled her birth weight yet.  She was in the 19th percentile for weight.  I was a little concerned about her gaining weight especially after a lot of stress trying to continue nursing her after a breast infection and going through a stressful time of abruptly starting solids and having to start supplementing formula.  Anyway, my worries were soon put to ease because she gained 4 lbs in 5 weeks!  She went from wearing 3-6 month clothes to barely fitting in 9 month clothes.  She wears a lot of 12 months now.  Somehow dressing her in 12 month clothes makes me feel like she's older than she is, as if she's a year old already.  I keep reminding myself that she is going on 8 months and still has a bit before she reaches the year mark.
     I bought her a pool floatie yesterday.  I can not wait for our first swimming experience!  I think it's going to happen soon, it got up to 90 degrees today and the pool water is feeling warmer every day.  I also bought a jogging stroller off of Craigslist a week ago.  We took it for a joy ride on Saturday and she LOVED it.  So much better than being in the infant carrier in a travel system stroller where she is hot and can't see anything.  She was happily underneath a HUGE sun shade and as soon as I started jogging she started squealing and flapping her arms.  We loved getting off of the pavement and hitting the trails.  And that jogging stroller has changed my life!  I can't believe it took me 7 months to get one! I can push it with my pinkie (I tested this) and it easily tackles rocks and dirt and grass.
     Harmony can get anywhere she wants.  She doesn't officially crawl but she's been getting up on her knees and scooting and lunging (like a seal) across the floor for about 2 months now.  She also can maneuver around and through ANYTHING.  You should see her navigate between chair legs and table legs.  She is super observant and super determined.  If she spots something she wants she will book it across the room in the blink of an eye.  We're having to be super careful about things in her reach and making sure nothing ends up on the floor.  It's amazing how many small pieces of plastic and paper appear out of nowhere.  It's definitely forcing me to be a better housekeeper!
     She has been a bit of a late bloomer as far as teething goes.  Just 3 days ago though her first tooth started to poke through her gums!  I can feel the sharp tip which is so weird.  She had been slightly fussy and not sleeping well for a week or two and then came down with a cough and super runny nose. I was utterly exhausted and couldn't figure out what was going on (there were no signs of teeth) but once that tooth poked through it all made sense.  She actually has been handling it really well.  The last two nights she has slept 8 or 9 hours straight which hasn't happened in a while.  It's been super nice to have two nights in a row of not getting up every hour to check on her after a coughing fit or to get her back to sleep after she woke up crying.
     Also, about a month ago she said "a dada dada dada" as she climbed away from me and towards Jackson.  So he wins the first word.  A week after that she started saying "ma ma ma ma" and kind of stopped saying dada.  She only says mama when she's crying or wants picked up or wants my attention.  It sure makes it hard to let her cry for just a few minutes while I finish doing what I'm doing. How can I resist my sweet baby calling my name?
     Harmony is as happy as can be.  I wish I could find words to express how much we love her.  It is incredible to have someone be so excited and happy all the time and to have such an innocent little baby that reminds me daily how amazing life is and all of the details in this world are.  I was shaking the salad dressing bottle at dinner the other night while holding her and she suddenly started cracking up.  She thought it was the funniest thing/sound.  What a great reminder that life and our many experiences, even the small every day moments like shaking a dressing bottle are so interesting and exciting.  My heart is overflowing with love for her and I am amazed at all of the things I didn't understand about parenthood and unconditional love and intense fear for someone's safety and well-being, that I am beginning to understand now, as a mother.  I am so excited for every stage of Harmony's life.  We're going to have so much fun together.  Mom, Dad, and baby love each other lots and find so much fulfillment out of the little every day experiences.  We are so excited to continue watching our baby girl learn and grow!

HALLOWEEN

     Time to play a little blog catch up.  Halloween was fast approaching and with no money in the budget for costumes, I was anxiously trying to figure out what to do.  Isn't it against some American code of parenthood to not dress your child up for their first Halloween?  So my first idea was we could dress Harmony up as a fairy.  I already had a tutu and I read up on how to create wings out of hangers and nylons.  But laying on wire wings didn't sound too comfortable or realistic for holding a 2 1/2 month old so I kept looking.  I came across a blog where the parents had dressed up in all black and wore an "Incredibles-esque" mask to be bank robbers.  They bought this costume for their infant:

It runs between $25 and $30 online.  I saw it and thought, "I can make that!"  So I did.  I had some scrap fabric that I cut up and sewed into a wearable bag with a simple velcro closure in the back.  I found a hat the same color that is a 12-month size so my friend Tia took over with attaching money to it and we placed it on Harmony's head backwards so it could hang down her back rather than fall over her face.  Here's my finished product: 

     Not bad for only spending $1.79 on fake money! 

     I then cut up masks from some black fabric I had, attached some elastic, and Jackson and I were ready for the Ward Trunk or Treat!  Unfortunately only one of the 2 masks were really wearable (it's a lot harder than it looks to cut eyes and nose holes in the correct place and the correct size!) so Jackson took one for the team and let me wear the mask (I may or may not have whined and got a little stressed after frantically trying to make them the day of!) We went to the trunk or treat, I ate way too much mediocre chili, sneaked a few pieces of candy corn and enjoyed celebrating Halloween with friends and family! 

Getting to know Harmony

     Harmony is now 3 months old and I thought I'd tell you a little bit about her personality and my adjustment to motherhood.  First I'd like to say that being a mother is AMAZING.

 Everyone always talks about how having kids is so life changing and how the love of a mother and father for their children is limitless.  It's something that is definitely impossible to comprehend fully until you get there yourself. I actually suffered from irrational fears while pregnant like, "What if I don't love my baby?"  (I obviously didn't experience a ton of bonding while prego) or "What if I find my baby annoying?"  or "What if motherhood isn't as fulfilling as I expect it to be?"  ...  I look back and laugh at those fears.  I was absolutely in love with my baby as soon as she took her first breath and that love grows exponentially every day.  She is not annoying, but is such a joy to be around.  And motherhood is rewarding and fulfilling in a way that  I didn't expect - definitely more emotional fulfillment than I ever dreamed (so grateful that I didn't have any post partum depression - my hormones have felt more stable post-birth than they have in years!) and it's physically fulfilling - I am amazed that my body grew this little human being inside and was strong enough to carry her, deliver her, and then pop back into a relatively normal state (minus a strong core and plus 10 lbs).
     Harmony has brought more joy into our home than I ever dreamed possible.  We can't stop staring at her and I am convinced there is nothing better than her many toothless grins.  Speaking of grins, let's start there with getting to know her.

1.  SMILES.  Harmony is one happy baby!  She loves to smile.  She began smiling consistently at about 4 weeks.  Her smiles make me laugh and smile all day long and that first smile of the day, when she's crying in her crib after waking up but smiles as soon as she sees me makes getting out of bed so worth it!

2.  LEARNING.  Harmony loves to study and try to imitate what we teach her.  For example, she has figured out the long O sound.  She studied our mouth, tried it out with her voice and got the hang of it.  However, when we demonstrate the short 'a' sound, she studies our mouth but doesn't attempt any sound because she hasn't figured out how to form her mouth and tongue.  She tries to imitate various other actions as well, it's a blast to see her small successes in copying us.  She also rolled over from her stomach to her back on her one month birthday but has no clue how she did it.  About 3 weeks ago she rolled over from her back to her stomach for the first time, here's the aftershot:

3.  SLEEPING.  We are so blessed!  Harmony had her days and nights figured out on day one.  The first two weeks I fed on demand so I was up every couple of hours.  But then, I started to try to get her on a schedule and it only took a few days before I had her only waking up at 2 and 6 to eat (I feed her for the last time at 9 pm which means she's usually down by 10:30 if not sooner).  And, for about the last month she has consistently only woken up at around 5:30 to eat.  I'm so glad!

Also, the first 6 to 8 weeks of her life she really didn't sleep during the day except for when we were in the car.  This meant that my days were filled with almost constant bouncing and walking to keep her happy because she hated to not be held.  However, she is finally taking short naps, yesterday she took two 20 minute naps which is a huge deal!

Rocking Harmony to sleep for a nap

4.  PLAYING.  As Harmony has adjusted to life outside the womb she has become more secure and content.  She is a ton of fun to play with and is so responsive.  She gets a kick out of the toys hanging on her car seat and many times she wakes up in the morning and is entertained by her mobile for a bit which gives me a few more minutes of sleep.  She loves when I brush my hair across her cheek, when Jackson gets her legs moving really fast like she's on a bicycle, and when we just coo and make funny sounds.  Most recently she loves to watch me count to 5 on my fingers.  I can also leave her in the swing or on a blanket for longer and longer periods of time and she entertains herself which lets me get the dishes done and cook dinner.

5.  THE BINKIE.  For about 6 weeks Harmony would not take the binkie.  That was rough.  This meant mom was a human pacifier and as a new mom it took a bit to figure out when she was hungry or just wanting to suck for soothing.  Even after I figured it out, sometimes it was easier to just be the pacifier in order to stop the crying.  But, now she takes it and my life is changed.  It helps her go down for naps, it helps soothe her while awake...  I love it!

6.  MOM HAS FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT!  Harmony has been a much happier baby since I learned what her different cries mean and learned different ways to keep her happy.  Now I can tell when she's  crying because she's tired or the hunger cry or the "I'm bored laying here" cry.  I can address the correct need and life is so much easier!   Harmony rarely cries inconsolably any more (I really don't remember the last time that happened!).  She is so happy and easy to please.  I love it!  A friend of mine told me it gets much easier after the first two months and she was right.  I wondered how on earth I could handle more kids and went through the crazy emotions and frustrations that come with fussy babies (which now I know her fussiness was nothing compared to what some of my friends have gone through) and the difficulty of feeling like I sat on the couch nursing 24/7 each day.  But I learned a ton and her eating patterns calmed down and she stopped fussing and now life is peachy!  I'm so excited to watch her continue learning and growing!

We have had an amazing 3 months learning how to take care of our daughter.  We love her so much and she is a beautiful, happy baby girl!

BYU VS UT

     Jackson and I splurged when BYU came to Austin to play UT and bought a couple of tickets off of craigslist.  We figured we had many reasons to celebrate - our one year anniversary (which was Aug 14th - the day i checked in to the hospital so we never really got to celebrate), the birth of our first child, our move to a 2 bedroom apt ( which took place the same day as the game, so that was a bit chaotic!), and as Jackson said "you're a BYU alumni and I'm a dropout"...  like I said, many reasons to celebrate and justify the purchase! So, my brother who had come up to help with the move was nice enough to babysit Harmony for us and Jackson and I went to the game with Kendall (Jackson's step-dad) and a couple of friends.

      When we arrived, parking was a bit more difficult to find than we anticipated since UT is downtown so we ended up a ways away and were missing the beginning of the game.  Lucky for us their are  some hip Austinites who run game day bike taxis as a side job.  Our biker was super chill and happy to let the 3 of us pile in the cart and pull about 570 lbs. to the stadium.  I had to sit on Jackson's lap and having recently gave birth I tried not to feel too fragile or anxious about what would happen to me if we crashed (crashes have happened - we asked).

On the bike taxi

Bike taxis from behind

We made our entrance into the Stadium with Jackson shouting a BYU cheer.  He kept shouting through the whole game.  He was a very annoying visiting team fan, I'm sure. But, UT fans were extremely nice!  We had heard stories about this being true and experienced it first hand.  Everyone was congratulating us on a good game afterwards (granted, they won so that of course helped them be happy and I'm sure kinder) but still, we were very impressed, especially with the fans who were around us and never took our shouting personally.  Here we are at the game: 

     We had a lot of fun and even got to meet up with an old friend of mine from BYU.  Adam and his wife came over to our seats at half time and said hello and that was lots of fun since Adam and I have been friends for 6 years.  I really love meeting up with BYU friends throughout the country.  

     So, even though we lost it was still an awesome game and a fun date night.  Can't wait to take Jackson to a home game one day!  

Harmony's Birth!

Harmony Melody Calame

Born:  15 August 2011 at 1:33 PM

8.67 lbs 20.5 inches

     By Sunday the 14th the baby still hadn't come.  We were scheduled to check in to the hospital at 5:00 pm to start the inducement process.  We arrived half an hour late at 5:30 p.m.  The nurses went through asking all sorts of questions – the typical medical history, allergies, etc.  They tried starting the IV and got it in the vein no problem but the catheter bent and wouldn’t go in correctly.  I squeezed Jackson’s hand a good one as the nurse moved the needle and catheter around for what seemed like forever.   Then she said she was going to stop torturing me and put it in my hand instead.   Thank-you.

      Once all the checking in and setting up was complete, they put the first cervadil pill in me.  I was still only dilated to 1 ½ and only 50% effaced.  I took a sleeping pill and slept soundly through the night.  They put the pill in every 4 hours through the night so by 7:30 a.m. on the 15th it was time for the 4^th one.  But, Dr. Thoppil went ahead and ordered that they start the pitocin even though I was only at a 2 and 70% effaced.  The first hour was full of cramping and towards the end I was having to concentate on breathing through them.  I suggested we put on Netflix to help distract me so we started watching Bella.  I’ve been wanting Jackson to see it for a long time.  But, about half way through the movie, by 9:30 AM the contractions were getting pretty strong and I needed to concentrate completely on getting through them.  We turned the movie off and Jackson stood by my bedside as I gripped his hand for each one.  I started writhing, moaning, and whimpering through them as time went on and kind of felt like crying but didn’t.  

     My family showed up at 10:30 AM as contractions were getting really intense.  My parents, Dathan, and Shalynna all walked in at once.  There’s a 2 person limit in the delivery room and they’re not super strict about it or anything but I felt super overwhelmed with all these smiling happy people walking into my room nonchalantly as I was writhing in pain and going through this super intense experience.  Jackson quickly fixed the situation and my family took turns visiting.  They were just giving me pain medication through my IV when they arrived.  They gave me some through my IV that was going to take effect quickly and then a shot in my butt that was supposed to last longer.  I have been terrified about all the needles involved in childbirth and haven’t been stuck anywhere but my arm since I was very very little (so little that I have no recollection of ever being stuck anywhere else).  Anyway, funny enough the spot where they put the needle was on my butt but towards my hip and in a spot where I am very ticklish.  So rather than hurting, it actually tickled as the shot went in!  I found that humorous and shared the laugh with my mom and Jackson in between contractions.  The pain medication did help, although I was definitely still in a lot of pain during contractions.  It really helped me relax in between though along with making me woozy and tired.  I had barely acknowledged anyone since the contractions had gotten strong and that continued.  I had to keep my eyes closed because the light made me dizzy and I discovered very fast that noise really annoyed me.  I made everyone talk quietly and if anyone tried to address me I had no idea because I couldn’t hear anything over my breathing and I was completely consumed in working through contractions.  Jackson was great at holding my hand and being a comfort at my side even though I hardly interacted with him during this time other than to squeeze his hand really hard.  

My husband is dang hott.  And my miserable face peeking out from the corner makes me laugh.

Looking back I’m kind of surprised at how independently I handled it.  Don’t get me wrong, Jackson HAD to be there and I couldn’t have done it without him but I’m surprised at how fully focused I was on me and my body and not on anyone or anything else. 

     So anyway, at this point I was thinking I could never do this again, and wondered how I was ever going to have another child.  They had wanted to give me IV pain meds before the epidural because I was only dilated to a 3 and the epidural can really slow down labor so Dr. Thoppil ordered they hold off.  Periodically the nurses asked me what my pain was on a scale of 1 to 10 and I only ever got up to saying a 5 because I figured it was going to get a lot worse.  I was convinced I just had to be a wuss because I expected labor to go on for another 5 to 8 hours and knew that was a lot of time for things to get worse.  At noon they called the anesthesiologist and started preparing for the epidural.  In between intense contractions we got me sitting up, cross legged, hugging a pillow, and leaning forward arching my back as Jackson held onto my shoulders.  The anesthesiologist gave me my 3 options, 1 – he could give me a basic run down of the epidural and explain the drug, potential risks, expected outcomes, etc.  2 – he could just answer my questions.  Or 3 – he could just go for it and get it in.  I of course went for option 3.  I have always been terrified of an epidural, an apparently large needle going straight into my back has never seemed like a cake walk.  However, anything sounded better than those contractions.  He numbed me first and said the needle would feel like a bee sting.  It did sting but not nearly as bad as I had expected.  Then, I didn’t even feel the actual epidural.  The anesthesiologist did his job flawlessly and the epidural was administered at 12:30 pm.  Within ten minutes I was feeling substantially better.  But as soon as it took away the pain I felt really intense pressure.  I had been told they would check me again in 15-20 minutes and was trying to be patient but I was having to work just as hard through contractions to not push as I was earlier to bear the pain.  I was concentrating on my breathing, squeezing the bar on the bed, and unable to talk through the contractions because the pressure was so intense.  I kept assuring my mom that it didn’t hurt it was just a TON of pressure.  Right after the epidural kicked in Jackson went to get something to eat, he hadn’t eaten all day.  As he was gone the urge to push intensified.  Finally, I called the nurse in.  I didn’t want to seem like an idiot thinking I was ready to push when I still had another 5 centimeters to go or something but I couldn’t deny what I was feeling and what my body was trying to do either.  And I had to know because I knew I couldn’t push until I was a 10 and I couldn’t hold it back any longer.  She seemed a bit skeptical but went ahead and checked me and got this cute smile on her face and said I was there.  I was a 10 and 100% effaced.  I could push! 

     Suddenly the room jumped into action.  The nurse wanted me to labor down some more because the baby wasn’t quite as low as they would of liked.  I tried my best to not push but it was next to impossible.  I frantically had my mom call Jackson to get him back in the room.  Dr. Thoppil arrived shortly after Jackson, they had both been in the cafeteria.  Nurses filed in, everyone got gloves on and delivery gear in order.  They took apart the bed without me even knowing it, got my legs straddled in the air and with each contraction I was finally allowed to push.  The nurse and Dr. Thoppil were great at coaching me through and Jackson was fantastic at encouraging me and re-enforcing what they were telling me to do.  I couldn’t believe how fast it was all happening.  As the baby descended everyone told me I was doing fantastic, they could see the baby’s head and I was making great progress.  I wanted to see.  I requested a mirror.  They brought one in but after watching for a bit I had to look away because the hole I saw still seemed far too small to push a baby out of and it was kind of freaking me out.  After about 30 minutes of pushing, the baby came out.  It was a crazy feeling.  I felt the stretching and pressure that I had always been so terrified of.  Even with the epidural it stung some but there was such purpose and I knew I was so close.  The baby slid out and there was such a release of pressure!  Jackson cut the cord and the baby was immediately placed on my chest.  I was overcome with endorphins.  I was full of so much joy and love for this little baby on my chest. 

Apparently as Jackson cut the cord Dr. Thoppil asked him, “So, what are you going to name him?”  Jackson looked down at the baby’s face, up at the board where the names “Emerson” and “Donnovan” were written, which were the two names we were deciding between, and looked back at the baby and said, “I have no idea”.  Neither of those seemed right to him.  I missed this conversation as I regained coherency.  But, this cheesy baby was placed on my chest and I cried a little bit and kissed the baby’s forehead and said hello and then I looked up and my first words were, “So, is it a boy for sure?”  The baby had been born for at least 3 minutes at this point.  The nurse pulled back the blanket the baby had been wrapped in, and as we both looked the nurses eyes widened and said, “Nope!”  We had a little girl!  Jackson and I started laughing and were shocked but not that shocked because we had felt very strongly at the very beginning that we were going to have a girl, that our little Harmony Melody was waiting to join our family, but 2 separate ultrasounds had convinced us otherwise.  Jackson said, “Well then, her name is Harmony!”  a name we had picked out for our first daughter before we were even married. 

     I was overjoyed as I held her in my arms and spent the next half hour trying to get her to latch on and start nursing.  That was a little tricky to get the hang of and the nurses were really good about staying with me and helping.  We finally got her to nurse for a few minutes and then they took her across the room to bathe her, do footprints, measurements, etc.  

Family filed in and met her and about 2 hours after her birth I was wheeled to a recovery room where I would be staying for the next 48 hours.  I was STARVING so my family left on a mission to Sonic to bring me back a bacon cheeseburger, fries, and a strawberry-banana-pineapple milkshake. 

I snarfed it down and then ordered dinner from room service and ate that an hour or two later. 

     Right after the delivery I told Jackson, “I could totally do that again!”  The whole childbirth process was so much easier than I ever expected it would be.  I had a 1^st degree tear which meant it was very small and only required a couple of stitches.  My recovery was super easy, I felt fantastic.  Even in the days following.  Sore of course, but nothing terrible.  I created a reputation with the nurses as being the happiest and easiest patient they had.  It felt amazing to have my body back. 

 It was such a beautiful experience and happened so fast - 6 hours from when they started the pitocin to when I had Harmony in my arms.  When we were checking out with the hospital, our nurse told us, "I've seen some great parents come through here, but you two have really got it together".  She was so impressed at our team work and love and stability, even as 23 and 24 year old parents.  We were flattered and are trying our hardest to continue "keeping it together".  We love each other and we love our daughter.  Hooray for becoming a family of 3! 

Day 8 of Overtime

     Sunday August 14 was the day set for me to check in to the hospital to begin the process of inducement.  It was also our one year anniversary!  We slept in, trying to get a good amount of rest before embarking on childbirth, then I worked on the diaper bag I've been sewing and then cooked a delicious dinner of baked halibut, rice, and vegetables.

This dinner completed my one year challenge to cook a new meal every day for a year!  It was a fun year and I'm so much in the habit of finding new meals for the week's menu that I can't seem to stop.  I'll just keep on going! 

     We packed our bags and anxiously went to the hospital.  We checked in 30 minutes late and got settled.  Read about the birth story in the next post! 

Day 7 of Overtime

      At one week overdue we spent the day swimming.  On Fort Sam.  Which meant swimming for free.  With 2 awesome water slides.  Jackson talked the lifeguard into letting me go down the slower of the two (which ended up still being pretty fast!) and I was like a giddy school girl.  I LOVE water slides and going down that slide at 41 weeks pregnant was the most fun I had had all Summer!

    After swimming we went home and got ready for a friend's wedding reception. My best friend, Rebecca, had returned from her mission the night before and I anxiously awaited her arrival to the reception.  It was a joyous reunion And Maria, Rebecca, and I enjoyed the time together.  We've been friends for over 10 years and I had no idea when we would all 3 be in the same place at the same time again until Maria's sister planned her wedding in San Antonio on the perfect weekend.  I had hoped they would get to meet my baby too but, I'll take what I can get.  

 

Baby bump picture!  I believe Maria was 13 weeks at this point and I was 41. 

What a great weekend filled with friends and family but still no baby!  We drove back to Austin and waited some more with no signs of labor.