sleeping like a ... well, like a baby

Why is it when people see someone sleeping peacefully they describe it as sleeping like a baby? I'm telling you that they are not talking about the quantity of sleep at one time. Maybe it is the quality of sleep; they must be talking about this kind:

Taking a nap today, 2/15/08

Peetering out helping mom make lemon bars 2/13/08

Driving to Sacramento 2/3/08

Hey, at least somebody is getting some sleep around here! It sure ain't me!

It is about time

Today marks a great day in history for Soledad. I have worked for 5+ years on the renovation project for the Soledad Pool. Today we held a small reception to commemorate the occassion of the demoliton of the pool portion of the building. Some fellow Rotarians, City of Soledad staff members, patrons, and community members attended.

Last week when our excellent project manager from the construction company called to say that the demolition permit was ready and we could pick a day to begin, I nearly keeled over. I have been using the comparrison of a carrot on the end of a stick to describe this project. I have been somewhat shocked that it will actually come to fruition.

Well, it will almost come to fruition. Due to muliplying construction costs, we are commencing with Phase 1: the frame, roof, and wall panel replacement of the swimming pool room (along with some ADA compliance upgrades, including parking lot). Phase 2 is a complete remodel of the lobby and locker rooms. Believe it or not this Phase 1 is costing nearly 1 million dollars! Phase 2 wouldn't be that much, but we probably need to raise that much to complete it by the time it happens.

I can't help but include some photos of Miss Jane Nicole as well. She is just becoming more alert every day (and putting on the o-z s). It is hilarious especially to watch her try to fall asleep when we are trying to keep her awake. Her eyes are at half-mast, she plays half smiles across her face, and sometimes she squeals in a half attempt to cry - accompanied by a big pouty lip.

Today she barfed all over my pants (making me look like I peed). I just went to the "groundbreaking" ceremony without even thinking about it, but thankfully it dried clear! Then, while we were there she barfed all over Blaine in the exact same spot! Ha! He was complaining to me, but it fell on deaf ears.

Yesterday she had some explosive excrements from the other end - all over her new little jeans - TWICE! She was pretty much just hanging out in the bath tub all day.

Last week we (Jane & I) went to Sacramento to hang out with the girls (oh and Jodi and Dean, too). They are SO SMALL compared to Jane - she weighs about twice what they do! But they are so cute, and make a lot of the same facial expressions and stuff as Jane does. It was awesome to see them so healthy and growing.


(Delaney on left, Emelyn on right - I am the one in brown :) )

Looking forward to "Babywise"

Most recent picture - taken just hours ago.

Checkin myself out for the first time

Hangin with Olivia at Nordy's

Sleeping on dad

Thank you Mr. Nathan Williams!! Blaine's northern CA cohort just sent us the books "On Becoming Babywise" 1 & 2. The jist that I gather so far is paying close attention to your child's cues in order to effectively manage feeding and sleeping times in order to "SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT". I have heard of this phenomenon, yet am suspicious of it's reality. It seems like a case for the X-files. No doubt it will be difficult to take on, since we are already "starting late".

Wish us luck!

New Furniture

Two weeks ago Jane and I were having lunch with Frances at this new pizza place in Chole. As we were leaving, this lady was loading up a couple of fabulous arm chairs from the empty retail space next door. We had to ask where/what the...?

It turns out that a developer is selling all of the furniture from a bunch of model homes! SWEET! I had heard about something like this before, and always missed the opportunity. I had the nice gal (Amanda) hold a couple of things until I could get Blaine to come and check it out.

We ended up with 2 red arm chairs, 2 side tables, 1 coffee table, and a rustic wooden dining set.

Living/Dining (new chairs & tables)

Kitchen/Family/Breakfast (new table, 2 benches, 2 chairs)

For now we have 3 dining sets in our house! The new one is too big for the space, but we are going to wait to find a new couch to do the big transition we've been discussing. If you are in the market for a table and chairs - look no further - we'll give 'em to you!

For those who don't know, we currently have a dining room/living room and a kitchen/breakfast nook/family room. The conversion would create one big family room and one big dining area. I highly look forward to it, but the one downfall is the strange placement of the fireplace - it will be in the new dining room.

Seriously, let us know if you or anyone you know would like a table/chairs set. One is more kitchen-y and the other more formal.

Peace.

Real Quick

As i seem to have lost both the semblance of "free time" and the simultaneous use of my hands, it is increasingly difficult to write interesting tid-bits about my days with jane. Please forgive, and enjoy a couple of cute pics of our girl.

What's up Homies?

Jane and Dad taking naps

Every day

Every day I wake up (did I ever actually fall asleep?) to stare at this beautiful girl. It doesn't matter that I am sooooo tired when I see her open her eyes and look at me.

Every day I feed this girl seemingly nonstop, yet worry that she is growing up too fast already.




Every day I pretty much get nothing else accomplished, but comforting this child.


Every day I take pictures...

Jane and her dad

Jane & Olivia (& Marie)

And that's pretty much it! As in: that's all I do! Until tomorrow, that is. Tomorrow Jane and I embark on our most adventuresome trip yet: errands! Wow, our life is the peak of excitement. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Ta Da!

Finally. I know, I know.

Here are some photos of my amazingly perfect daughter:

Hi guys!

Jane Nicole Wilson

born December 19 at 9:03am

7 pounds 4 ounces

18 inches long

(you can't imagine how time consuming it is to stare at her beautiful face all day long - I have no idea where the time goes!!)

So here's the whole story from December 19th:

1:45 am - woke up and rushed into the bathroom (skip this part if it grosses you out) to find that my pants were SOAKED. I'm not talking sat-in-a-puddle wet, but more like jumped-in-the-pool soaked. Um, I guess my water broke. I sat there for 15 minutes to figure out how to stop the flow. Everytime I stood there was more and more dripping! I went from - "yey, my baby is coming early" to "oh my god, this baby is coming today"! I took a shower, put a newborn sized diaper in my pants, and paid the bills.

3:00 am - no contractions yet, so I called the doctor. The one on call told me to wait to go to the hospital until contractions were regular. So, Blaine & I went back to bed (well, I just read and started to time the (very mild) contractions that started around 4:15 am.

6:00 am - My contractions had been regular, although still very mild, so I sent an email to some family and friends to let them know we'd be headed to the hospital. Called the doctor at 6:20 to let him know we'd be there around 7:30. Then, we took this last picture of me pregnant:

Me, preggo, at 6:38 am Dec 19th

8:00 am - my Dr. shows up & verifies through ultrasound what the nurse suspected when she first checked me: the baby is breach (butt down - like the letter "V"). He keeps talking about all the options, but how the safest option is to do a ceserean, but I am just tearing up and trying to focus on what he is saying. The whole time he is talking he is patting my knee and people are moving around quickly. He tries to comfort me by saying that they are just available and the surgery room is ready, so we can just go in there now - but it is not an emergency. Meanwhile, someone is shaving my downtown, someone else is hooking up the IV, someone is strapping on some leg compression boots, and still someone else is asking me to sign all these papers, and I am leaking tears the whole time. It sure seems to be moving quickly.

9:03 am - Jane is pulled out! I hear the Dr. say "well, she's definitely a girl!" followed by some wailing. I am so drugged up that I just cry and wait, cry and wait for someone to show me my little girl. Blaine is so enthralled with watching the surgery that I have to insist that he go to the baby. Here is the very first picture of our girl:

Jane's first photo

10:00 am - I get to hold my little girl for the first time in the recovery room. Warning: the next photo kinda shows my whoo-haas. Blaine almost refused to take the picture, but I insisted on having a picture of the first time I held my baby. I still couldn't feel anyting from the chest down - I'm talking not being able to wiggle my toes - weird! Anyhow, you can tell that I'm all drugged up still, but the wide eyes are for the miracle baby that I am holding.

11:00 am - wheeled into the hospital room, where Alice and Howard were waiting for us. Here is our first ever family picture:

The next few days were totally a blur of gracious visitors, trying to get out of bed, feeding a baby every 2-ish hours, being woken up by the nurses constantly, staring at my beautiful girl, staring at Blaine staring at our beautiful girl, and nearly passing out in the hospital shower.

Thank you to everyone for visiting and loving our baby. We can't get enough of her!