On the Verge...

This is going to be a picture heavy blog. Just to be honest from the get-go. No creative, witty writing for this sleep deprived new mom. I just don't have it in me. Maybe once this Babram is on more of a schedule (as far as feeding and sleeping is concerned), I will be able to get back to my clever and witty self. Let's hope so; for your sake and mine. And who wants to read my silly, rambly words anyway, when you can see fun pictures of a cute baby and some awesome people? We are at eleven days with the baby (nine at home). My parents have come and gone for Thanksgiving and baby viewing. My mom is in love. And very helpful. We got spoiled with the food preparation, laundry, diaper changing, and burping. My dad did some much needed chores around the house and I was so very thankful to have them here. Quinn's mom gets here in four days. While we are enjoying a (relatively) quiet night at home alone for pretty much the first time, by tonight we are going to be counting...

We finally made it!! Well, HE finally made it. Abram Quinn Smith was born on November 17th, 2010 at 2:57pm. To continue with the cliche (but important) information: he was 6 lbs 14 oz. and measured 20.25 inches. All those in-utero, motivational speeches I gave him about being early actually paid off. To make a long story... semi-short (but not really): We had out 38 week visit with the doctor on Tuesday, the 16th. At that point, he agreed that by 39 weeks I would be ready enough to induce labor, which I immediately and excitedly agreed to. In my mind, it was perfect. He would be early AND planned. And I sure love both of those things! But Abram (and more accurately: GOD), were about to prove to me that my timing is not perfect, while His absolutely is. God's, that is. Not necessarily the Babram's. Tuesday night/Wednesday morning at 1:30ish, I woke up to a gush of fluid and ran to the bathroom yelling at Quinn that my water broke. He jumped out of bed faster and mor...

It awaiting the birth of the baby, there were a few events that we were hoping we would get to attend before he came. I have to admit that there were times I wished that he would come early and we just wouldn't be able to make it. However, we have passed that final event and I am glad that he has waited to grace us with his presence. The final event was the wedding of one of Quinn's best friends. Akintunde Omitowoju is a Nigerian who grew up in between Nigerian and America and became a computer programmer. Akin moved to Japan for 5 years from 2003 to 2008 and in that time, he came to realize how much he loved Japan and will now tell anyone that he feels Japanese at heart. So how appropriate that he would meet and befriend a Japanese girl at his church in Japan who he began to date after he had moved back to Austin and started working with Quinn at Retro. Masami Nishida moved to America just a few weeks ago and their wedding was Saturday night! We were all praying that Ab...

I have a wonderful friend named Kelli Hindman who is a fantastic photographer. We have known each other for a few years now. She and her husband were in our community group when Quinn and I started dating, we were hanging out with them the day we got engaged, Quinn took some family photos of them and their daughter, Irelyn, when she was born, and Kelli took our wedding photos. So when I was thinking about getting maternity pictures done, there was only one person that I wanted to take them. Although she is trying to make the move completely to newborn and baby photography, she is great at everything, so I knew they would turn out well. Check out her website: www.kellihindman.com And definitely contact her if you have a baby or kids that need their cuteness captured forever (for Christmas cards, maybe???) She will be doing Abram's newborn shoot when he is born, which will be much more adorable than these, I assure you. But here are some of the best of Q and I.

They say that Braxton Hicks contractions are not a sign that labor will be happening any time soon... they are just annoying. The instructions I've received are something like: "If you have more than 5 irregular, painless contractions in one hour, just drink a bunch of water and lie down to make them stop." So I figured that I really needed to follow those instructions when I started having about 20 in an hour at around 4pm yesterday. When I laid down, they definitely decreased. But all said, I had a total of at least 40 false contractions last night. And I've had about 15 this morning. Not painful, just annoying. Mainly because it means I'm just supposed to lie around when there are a bunch of things that I want to do and places I need to go. Yuck. Well, here's the latest picture... We really are on the verge of this Babram!!!

I have given up television for a week. Yes, it's true. I know, I know... Let me explain. Ever since I stopped teaching and my days have lacked schedule, responsibility, accountability, or deadlines, I have filled the boredom and the silence in my house with the sounds of television. This started in June. It's been almost 5 months and my list of favorite, mindless, silence and boredom remedies has come to include the following: -Law and Order (Any and all of them) -Bones -House -Mystery Diagnosis -Top Chef -Dr. G: Medical Examiner -Project Runway I never really strayed from this small, yet extremely broad, television path. On any given day you can find at least one of these shows and usually in a marathon format... where channel changing is kept to a minimum (along with most other forms of movement). Some days I would be crocheting baby hats or going back and forth from the sewing room or writing thank yous or being generally productive at the same time. However, those da...

Quinn and I met our new doctor yesterday. He is absurdly nice. Like: "Are you for real" nice. But all of my friends who go to him say that he really is just that wonderful. I'm not used to it, I guess. My previous doctor was a great guy and he was knowledgeable, but he wasn't overly... attentive.. might be the best word. So, anyway, this new doctor is great and, because it was our first visit with him, he AND his nurse did an ultrasound! We got to see the Babram after 12 long weeks with only abdominal boxing action as proof that there really was a baby in there. As usual, he provided us with really unphotogenic pictures, so here's the actual photo... And here's the photo with some help... He kinda looks like an alien with those deep eye sockets. But we were assured that it's just the ultrasound and all babies look like aliens in their pictures. He is also head down... which is great for delivery preparation, but not for picture taking....