Our Little Sourdough & Rye Baguette

Ayla Sierra Gimpel
Born April 27, 2008 at 3:11 p.m.
7 lbs 9 ounces

20 inches

Moments after birth

Snuggle bug with Daddy

Voracious sucker

Peaceful

Coming home in my carseat

There are just no words...

She is healthy & beautiful and FINALLY home!

(many) More pictures to come :)

Happy Birthday!!!!

Happy birthday Mama! Looks like the baby will let you have your own day after all! Of course, she's probably only doing it so that SHE can have HER own day... pfft... Taurus'!

WE LOVE YOU!!!!

Ooooh...Aaaah...

The crib FINALLY came in!! I don't know what you were all so worried about? I mean, we only ordered it back in JANUARY... plenty of time to spare!

Pretty, pretty!

We are not going to talk about the fact that the threaded holes that receive the screws used to hold the finishing rails along the head & foot of the bed look like they were mashed into the wood by chimpanzees and you can't even put the screws in them...OK, I guess we'll mention it...

I mean, seriously!

Ross assures me that when he very calmly calls the manufacturer & explains how they will be overnighting new rails and screws, everything will be alright...

You have eluded my wrath for now, "Inspector #2" (if that is even your real name)... but I'm watching... oh, yes, I'm watching!

Happy Passover!

Love, happiness, and peace to everyone!
Happy Passover!

Mini-update...

Went to the doctor yesterday for my 38 week appointment... the baby is very low & in position (the midwife could actually feel her head during the exam). She said that I will most likely have a normal vaginal delivery with very little pushing time :) What does all this mean? Well, it could be any day now... but it could also not be for a couple of weeks... she did recommend however, that Ross NOT go snowboarding this weekend... *sigh* why do babies have to be so unpredictable?! But, for some reason I can't shake the feeling that this little one is not messing around. She was conceived on the first try, the pregnancy has been textbook & healthy, and now she's just waiting for an "open door" through which to get this thing started! I admire that she's a take charge kind of woman with better things to do than stand on her head all day!
tick-tock tick-tock...

Pasta is our co-pilot...

May you be touched by His noodly appendage.

Ramen.

So maternity leave is AWESOME! I don't know why I didn't start it sooner! So far this week I have gone shopping with my mom... which, by the way included nothing baby related... (except for nursing pj's & bras, but those are "technically" for me so I don't count them)... yesterday I got an all important pedicure with a gift certificate that I got from a student for our wedding but never used (pink, of course and the lady even put some white flowers on them b/c "the baby will like them"), and today I had a cleaning service come in for 2 1/2 hours and scrub the house clean from top to bottom... that's right! I've decided to outsource my nesting and I don't even feel a little bit bad about it!

On tomorrow's agenda: car seat installation inspection and our 38 week doctor appointment.
The rest of the week consists of spending time with good friends and also picnicking & listening to some good music at a local winery... Ross may even get a day of riding in at Kirkwood this weekend!

Everyone keeps telling us to enjoy it while we can & I think we'll do just that! Never mind that next week is Ross' busiest week of work EVER... the baby & I had a little discussion and if she re negs on our agreement I'll just have to keep my legs crossed until the storm passes... but I'm almost sure that the Hyatt will not implode if Ross suddenly has to leave :)

So, that's the current state of affairs at the old Gimpel homestead... I'm now off to enjoy my nice clean house and wait patiently for my world to turn upside down... SO EXCITED!

FINALLY!!!!!!!!

I'M ON MATERNITY LEAVE! I'M ON MATERNITY LEAVE!

That is all...

More Baby Shower Fun!

My students and their moms threw me a baby shower on Thursday afternoon. Each of the kids decorated a onesie for the baby with fabric paint.

They also presented me with a book, "Our Teacher is Having a Baby".

They glued our class picture on it & all signed their names.
Here are some of the finished master pieces drying in the classroom.

Then it was time for gifts... the kids were sooo excited about the baby stuff! Too cute!

All of us (plus a couple of siblings thrown in). They told us to say "Ayla" instead of cheese!

After school that day, the teachers and staff threw me a baby shower too!

Some of my co-workers...
Danica, one of the second grade teachers is also pregnant and expecting a baby boy the day before me (she's the one in the black shirt leaning over, what else? the food)

We played "Guess how big the bump is?" Someone grossly underestimated the size of the mound:) Please excuse the weird mid-expression shot!

Then, can you believe, more gifts?! This girl is already S-P-O-I-L-E-D!

This was the scene for the trip home that day...

Good grief! Our daughter will definitely be the best dressed one in the family!

We went to the doctor yesterday afternoon. It seems our little girl knows her head from her ass! This is a great thing! Her head is down & has assumed the position in my pelvis. This explains all the pressure and feelings like my pelvis is about to be split into 2. Walking is an adventure in and of itself these days! But I'm so happy it is because that means that everything is going according to plan!! Apparently the thing that is stretching up into my rib cage is her butt. Sorry baby girl, seems Daddy needs to aim a little lower when he talks & sings to you! She LOVES when Daddy talks to her! If she's resting, she usually perks up & starts stretching; if she's active, his singing usually calms her down... lets hope this stays true at 2 a.m. after she's born!

Can I just take a moment to tell everyone how wonderful my husband is??? He has been just AMAZING, well, always, but ESPECIALLY these last 9 months! For the last 2 weeks at work he has been working solo- the day before his assistant director was due to come back from vacation, he phoned to say that his father in law had passed away in Chicago and he would be out the rest of the week and also the following. Our hearts go out to him & his family and as Ross says, he'd rather go crazy at work than have to deal with what Anil is going through. On top of having his assistant out, Ross' only 2 other full time employees were scheduled to be in training all week. This has meant that Ross has been doing all the admin & all of the grunt work on the floor. He has literally been doing the work of 3-4 people! Keep in mind that Ross normally works 10-12 hour days and some weekend hours when all of his employees are in, so you can do the math! He still somehow managed to make it to our doctor appointment. The baby & I took him to Bev-Mo afterwards & let him pick out 4 bottles of wine (they're having their 5 cent sale!!!)

On top of his craziness at work, he has been coming home & taking such ridiculously good care of me & the baby. He has been cooking dinner & doing the dishes. His weekends have been filled with picking up baby furniture and ticking off things on a massive "to-do" list. Last weekend he even scrubbed the kitchen & shower from top to bottom and he has managed to help arrange for our fence to be repaired! All the while watching me lapse into a baby induced coma around 8 p.m. every night. He even leaves me voice mails in the morning telling me that I'm doing a great job incubating and thanking me for going through it all for our baby girl.

He never asks for anything in return & merely tells me that he is just doing his job & it's his honor to do it... I'm writing this early & letting him sleep in. I think when he wakes up I will DEMAND that he go on a nice relaxing bike ride! I love this man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nursery update

Almost all of the furniture is here, the crib gets here in two weeks. We also got the play yard/bassinet so at least she has somewhere to sleep when she gets here. Here are some pics.

This will be her first bed, and then her Kiddy cage... It's 'portable'. This is getting real!

The dresser/changing table. Our unborn daughter already has the nicest piece of furniture in the house!

Nesting instinct in full bloom. Ali has washed, folded and put away all of Ayla's beautiful new clothes... Uhhh, she's only going to be 0-6 months for 6 months, right?!? Ok I'm sure that with all of the natural bodily excretions we will find that we use it all. Plus, it's so damn cute!!!

The happy, yum-yum food-time glider, a must have!

Cindy knitted this adorable combo. Please note the heirloom hanger. The hanger was Cindy's when she was a tot!

Ok, update complete, four weeks to go... give or take!!! Love to all!

I've got wood!

FENCE that is...
Well the fence has been replaced. As some may know we had some serious wind storms this winter and the fence between our next door neighbors and us was basically destroyed. OK, so it took us awhile to deal with the insurance company, but they very quickly and efficiently cut us a check and we've got a brand new fence... Two very strong uhhh... 'women in comfortable shoes' (as Robin Williams put it) built us a beautiful and sturdy fence. They used steel posts sunk into cement, pretty sweet! Considering there had been wooden posts simply pounded into the ground, it is a major improvement.

In progress while the cement cured...

And here it is...

Detail of the posts, which you can't really see.

So I am psyched! There is another little area that needs some attention, but basically we are good to go... Ok, the man blog is done...more baby info to follow.