Week One

Molly is a few hours away from being one week old. Over the past seven days she's come quite a ways as have we. As other parents know, you start to learn that 8 hours of sleep is no longer an option and a three - four hour stretch is a miracle. Thankfully Katie's family was able to be down here and ease our transition from well-rested individuals to parents of a newborn. Without their help I'm not sure where we'd be right now.

This was from when Molly was still at the hospital. She's already decided it's a good idea to hold Gramp's hand.

Molly has done a relatively good job of eating, sleeping, and pooping (I'll spare you the details on the many 'poopsplosions'). On the first issue, eating, she has probably exceeded all needs. We've been to the pediatrician a few times this week for various, non-serious reasons. At one of the visits the nurse told us they like to see newborns gain 1oz every day... Molly had gained 7oz in three days. The little girl can eat! While we're thrilled she's putting on weight like a champ, we're a little worried for the world's food supply when she gets older. You all might want to start buying stock in food companies now.

With the plethora of cameras, it's taken me until now to get some pictures of Katie and Molly leaving the hospital.


One of the bigger surprises has been Harry's reaction. Though he doesn't look like the most excited dog in these pics, he's been quite the trooper. Throughout the week he's preferred to be in the room with Molly - even when she's screaming her heart out - than elsewhere. Prior to Molly's birth, Harry wasn't the biggest fan of her room. If we were up there he might come check things out for 5 mins and then leave. Now he's in there almost constantly. It's obvious he understands she's part of the family.

My mom is happy to finally have a girl born into the family.

As you probably saw in Molly's first post, her eyes were pretty swollen in her first few days of life. Over the course of the week she's begun to open them more frequently. Right now they're blue; it'll be interesting to see what color they end up.

On the visitor front, Uncle Nate was able to make it down for a few days to see his new niece.

What a rough life.

Thankfully the weather has cooperated for the most part and we've been able to get Molly out of the house and into some fresh air for brief stretches of time. Thanks to the Poulins we were also able to use our grill for the first time in about two years.

Bath time! (Obviously she's thrilled)

Hi - I'm Molly

Things have been a little hectic over the past few days. Katie's mom was in town last Friday after a conference in Baltimore. Originally this was just going to be a quick visit over the weekend. Instead it turned into welcoming her first grandchild into the world (talk about good timing)!


Mariel Katherine "Molly" Magoun was born at 11:12pm on Saturday, 17 April 2010. She was a healthy 8lbs. and 1.9oz, and 21 inches long.

Luckily Katie's dad was able to hit the road relatively early Sunday morning (before 4am) and show up mid-afternoon and my mom was able to rearrange some flights and get down here for a brief visit Monday - Tuesday (my dad will be down in a few weeks to see his first granddaughter). All three grandparents have been a huge help around the house taking care of house stuff while Katie and I focus on figuring out our new responsibilities. Probably the most important thing we've learned so far is Molly makes the decisions.


Molly wore this (courtesy of Diana) on Sunday.


Right before we left the hospital.


The outfit Molly is wearing is the same one my mom wore home from the hospital when she was born.

We'll obviously have more photos and stories to share. Wish us luck.

End of an Era

First things first... as Andy and I noted the passing of the 25th of March, and I officially passed the 36 week mark, we continued to work on preparing for baby girl's nearly imminent arrival. (By "preparing," I of course mean that we kept busy so as not to panic about this fact...) Once again, IKEA saved the day when we found this lovely canvas reproduction of a Gustav Klimt painting for mere pennies (almost). I saw it and knew it was exactly what I wanted for the wall next to the glider... it's just perfect.



We did a handful of other errands, and I'm happy to say that we're making progress. On the docket for next weekend: install car seat and pack hospital bag. Andy is in charge of the car seat installation, so wish him well as I've heard horror stories about the challenges this task can present. Good luck, Andy!

Speaking of progress... here is the pregnant belly at 36 weeks:



Finally, perhaps the biggest development this week... my last day at work. As of Wednesday, I'm done with full-time work for a while. Not sure how long "a while" will be, but I can tell you that it will be longer than the measly 3 months of FMLA maternity leave that most working women receive. I have to say, it's definitely bittersweet... I started earning a paycheck at 16 and I've done so almost continuously since then (including while in school). That's 12+ years of earning my keep, and though I realize that I will most definitely be earning my keep at home, it's hard for me to imagine not seeing the tangible financial result of my efforts. I'll miss my friends at work, and the daily adult interaction that working in an office provides. I'm ready for a new adventure, though... the work I'm leaving is not the career path I intended or wanted to be on, so I look forward to this new chapter of my life and for the potential to eventually end up doing something that makes me happy (be that staying at home, going back to school, or changing careers). Time will tell.

Furniture, 34 Weeks, Oh My!

Furniture for the baby's room was delivered and installed on Friday. Once again, we have to give public appreciation to Great Beginnings in Maryland. Their delivery team arrived on time, carefully moved things upstairs and... perhaps most priceless... assembled everything quickly and properly. They were here for about 20 minutes to accomplish something that might've taken us half the day. Phew. Too bad we couldn't get them to install the car seat while they're at it.

A few pictures of the furniture in the room....







And because I'm being pestered to post another obligatory belly shot... the nursery's future inhabitant at 34 weeks...

Snow (removal)

Earlier this week the City's crews were still working 12 hour shifts to dig out from the storm. At about 11pm that night they were by to dig out our car (okay, so maybe they weren't specifically digging out our car; maybe they were just removing the 6-foot pile of snow at the intersection... nah, they were digging out our car). Since then we've had many above freezing days to melt the snow. Even with that, there are still massive piles throughout the city and many two-lane roads are really one-and-a-half lanes.

Snoverkill

First it was Snopacalypse in Dec. '09. Then it was Snowmageddon this past weekend. Now it's just Snoverkill. We're in the midst of the storm right now and already have 8 inches according to the National Weather Service (as of 11:15am). Prior to this storm the DC area officially had about 45 inches on the year, making it the third highest total on record. 45 inches is also more snow than the last four years combined (35.5 inches). By the time Snoverkill is over we should be close to or over the record of 54.4 inches... set during the winter of 1898-99.

(graph from the Washington Post's website)

Here are some shots taken from the comfort of our home (with blizzard conditions and near zero visibility, I have no desire to go outside. Heck, even the snow plows are waiting it out.).

Our back patio. It's out there somewhere. I swear.

Harry's been enjoying seeing what's going on outside. He hasn't enjoyed actually experiencing what's going on outside though.

That's probably because this is what's going on outside.

And, despite the blizzard conditions, the near zero visibility, the urgent pleas by everyone in a position of power for people to stay off the road, there are still some people who just don't get it. Apparently our neighbors are those people. We saw them driving around the other day with only the driver's side windshield area cleaned off. The rest of the car, including the majority of the windshield, was covered in two feet of snow. Snojoke.

Snowpocalypse II/Snowmageddon/Snowmygod 2010

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few days, you've probably heard that we had a few snow flurries around here this weekend. And by "snow flurries," I mean the cold wrath of Mother Nature descended upon us with all her might. As northerners who typically scoff at a Mid-Atlantic excuse for a "snow storm," this one had us shaking our heads in disbelief.



Andy took a few pictures in the midst of the story. The next two were taken on Saturday.




After the weather cleared, we decided to take a walk on Sunday morning to survey the damage. What we saw was as impressive as it was beautiful.


The look on Harry's face captures his response to all the snow. I think he's worried that things won't go back to normal.

Wires were down all over the place (as were branches, and trees). We were lucky to escape such troubles, and we were both grateful to have made the effort to get that old tree in front of our house removed this summer.



View towards S. Fairfax from the corner of Franklin and S. Royal (our house is on the corner at the top of this hill).


Franklin Street at S. Fairfax (our house is about 25 feet to the right of where I was standing when I took this picture). Neither of our cars are buried in this row, but this picture captures the sheer volume of snow. I was actually a little impressed with how quickly and how well the roads were plowed this time around. It would seem that the folks in Northern Virginia learned a thing or two after the big storm in December.


While Andy was busy digging out our cars, I took Harry out back to see how he'd react to a romp in the snow. Poor guy... the snow was too deep for him to move much, though he gave it a good try. This is him realizing snow up to his neck = cold and difficult to move around in = no fun.

90 Days = 3 months = Parenthood

27 Weeks, 1 Day (And Andy wonders why I don't like taking these pictures...)

I looked at the calendar today, and noting that it's the 25th, had a moment of panic reflection as I realized that my due date is exactly 3 months away. 90 days and counting. Seems like yesterday we were dumbfounded by the positive pregnancy test... and only hours later, similarly struck dumb by the knowledge that we were having a girl. (On a related note, my "mother's intuition" clearly needs fine tuning as I definitely, utterly, and completely thought we were having a boy.)

From Andy's recent posts, you might gather that I've slipped into nesting mode. He politely calls it "settling back into the house," but I'm here to label it by its true name: full-scale nesting. Andy's been a good sport, in many cases equally eager to get things done around the house, but I know he's had to keep a sense of humor about it at times... like when I decide I'm tired of looking at a cluttered room and grab a trash bag and a recycle bin and go nuts ridding our house of anything that isn't firmly secured in place. What can I say? At times I just. can't. stand. it. anymore. Normally I'm not bad at compromising with my husband the pack rat, but these days...

I'm feeling bigger every day. I find myself out of breath after walking the dog for 10 minutes. Getting up out of a chair, or standing up after sitting or kneeling on the floor is no longer a feat I can accomplish easily alone. It's a bizarre feeling for someone who has always considered herself athletic and generally fit. Add to that a baby who already likes to kick/punch in uncomfortable places and you've got a recipe for some discomfort (and yes, pregnancy veterans, I know it will get a lot worse). Speaking of baby movement, while I agree that it is an amazing feeling and certainly not like anything else I'll ever experience, I have to also admit that it can be terribly distracting and even uncomfortable at times. Particularly when she decides it's time to practice her tap dancing moves on my bladder.

It all adds up to the growing (literally) reality that we're rolling downhill towards parenthood. Next up is childbirth classes (every Tuesday night in February), and then infant care and breast feeding classes. Soon enough the baby's furniture will arrive and her room will be completely set up. And then it will be time to actually give birth (not sure I'm ready to think or talk about that yet).

Only 90 days. Wow. Let the countdown begin.

Step by step...

Inch by inch we're turning our house back into a home. We were finally able to move the TV out of our bedroom and into a new built-in entertainment center/bookshelf downstairs.

Before.

During.
And after.

The whole process took awhile. We were originally supposed to have this in by the New Year, but thanks to the massive snow storm and the extreme crookedness of our house (it took the carpenter two full days a week apart to install it), it was almost a month late. At least it's in now though.

We also were finally able to regain the fireplace in the bedroom. Since construction began way back when, the fireplace had the cat's litter box instead of nice, comforting fires (trying to combine the two would have been bad so we opted to forego fires for awhile).

The screen and fireplace tools are much nicer to look at than a litter box.

We were also able to begin putting artwork up in the baby's room. Well, sorta. This is the little alcove that is technically part of the room but separated by a small wall. As you can see it is what we have left of an office.

The artwork is a piece by Romero Britto. We were introduced to his work on the cruise we took back in the spring. Since then we've been waiting to a) get the piece framed, and b) get it displayed. We have to wait until the furniture arrives before putting any other artwork up in the baby's room. We're not quite sure where everything is going to go right now. Hopefully we'll figure it out soon!

Round Two

Eternal gluttons for punishment, we went back to Great Beginnings to provide our own economic stimulus to the state of Maryland. Once again we had a really successful (but draining) trip. We now have (ordered) a crib, dresser, glider, and a bunch of other smaller things.

Ze crib. Don't worry, we won't put the wheels on it.

Ze dresser.

And, the glider (we're getting it in a different color and without the ottoman).

We also started to get the room together a little bit.

This is what it looked like on Friday.

And this is what it looks like today. We were busy.

Busy weekend

Last weekend my mom was in town. We took full advantage of her knowledge of baby stuff and went shopping! (It actually was kind of exciting to start getting some of the more major things.)

First stop was IKEA for a rug. In addition to getting a rug for the baby's room, the trip also served as an introduction to the whole Ikea experience for my mom. The main comment from her throughout was "wow". Even having been relatively desensitized to IKEA, it is quite a lot to take in.

From IKEA it was on to Great Beginnings in Gaithersburg, MD. For those not in the know, Great Beginnings is a huge (think large Best Buy store sized), locally owned, baby store. They have nearly everything you could want or need. Even though we received a huge amount of stuff from the baby shower in Maine (I don't think we'll need to buy any pink clothing for awhile), there were/are still a few minor things we needed to buy... like a car seat... or stroller.

Thankfully, not only is Great Beginnings a huge, local store, it was also having a 20% off sale on everything (minus furniture)! (For those of you in the DC area who need baby stuff, the 20% off sale goes through the 17th) Needless to say, we did our part to help the local economy.

For a stroller we finally decided on the UPPAbaby Vista. We did a ton of research on strollers, checked out all the top contenders, and this one was definitely our favorite. The above photo is roughly the same color, but the one we're getting isn't as dark. This stroller is pretty cool. It comes with the bassinet at no extra charge, the main seat can face either front or back, and the tires are filled foam so they'll never go flat. As weird as it sounds, we're actually pretty excited to get to use it. It'll also be interesting to see how Harry adapts to the stroller on walks.

As for the car seat, we went with what seems to be the industry standard: the Graco SnugRide. Unfortunately or not, we were kinda forced to go with the pink version (the Juliette style to be exact). I guess this will just help others identify that yes, she is actually a girl and limit the number of "what a handsome boy" comments when she's really little.

While at the store we also did some reconnaissance on cribs, dressers, and gliders. We'll likely be headed back this weekend to start the ball rolling on those items.

One other thing about Great Beginnings. The staff is awesome. Everyone we spoke with really knew what they were talking about and took the time to explain things and answer all of our questions. We highly recommend them.

All in all it was a huge success. I'd like to thank my mom for helping us in all ways and putting up with the craziness that is shopping for baby items.

Everything we got this weekend and from the baby shower is still in the living room, but will hopefully move its way up to the baby's room this week. Right now we have painters in their doing a (hopefully) beautiful job of finishing off the trim. Once they're done we should be able to start putting the room together.

2009 Year in Review

This was quite an eventful year for us. It started out... actually I don't really remember how it started. I know there were many discussions with the architect and potential contractors. Eventually it turned into contract negotiations (I think it was a good thing the contractor asked if we were both lawyers) and frantic packing. Then, in the end of April the fun began. Below are a few shots of what the house looked like before.

The house was a pretty blah grey color with an obnoxiously red door. The other major outside difference in the front is the massive tree.

All I can say about the back is thank God the slope is gone. The slope was the little half bath/laundry room/storage area/utility room that, in addition to be extremely cramped, had one end of the floor about three - four inches lower than it should be.

Umm... blame the clutter on the fact we were in the middle of packing frantically.

Once the construction started it didn't take long for drastic changes to occur.

Remember the slope? This is what it looked like after one day of work.

For the next few months things are a bit hazy. All we really remember is eating pizza, pet hair, construction dust, and more pet hair. Eventually though, we were able to emerge from our one room apartment to this:

Having our kitchen back in working order was a huge relief. I would say it was the happiest part of the year, and it was for awhile, but then we found out Katie is pregnant. For those who don't know already (not really sure where you've been) she's due in late April/early May. Since finding out the good news the fall was a whirl-wind of researching baby stuff, trying to get the house and animals ready for the new addition, and generally freaking out. I mean preparing ourselves mentally.

The end of the year saw the largest snow storm in Alexandria since the 1930s. In all, about 20 inches of snow fell. The streets were pretty well deserted except for people pulling sleds or walking their dogs.

Looking back on it, it was quite a hectic year. Over the past two years we've attempted just about every thing that could test a relationship (planning a wedding, buying a house, remodeling a house, international travel) and come through relatively unscathed. I'm sure 2010 will bring its own set of tests (like parenting) and honestly, I couldn't be happier.