I Hope You All Got a Better Night's Sleep Than We Did

Hi All,

It's about 4:15 am and we are off to the hospital. I've been pretty crampy all day long and they've grown in intensity and frequency (although, now that we have made the decision to leave, they are slowing down a bit). Hopefully the hospital won't send us home.

None of us here at the Michelson house, with the exception of Magnum, have slept tonight. When David and I finally decided to emerge from the cave that is our master suite, we discovered my parents up and waiting on us. As David described it, it was like we stayed out way to late and they were ready to bust us for partying too much. But, internet, partying never felt like this!

We'll keep you posted with texts and hopefully emails. Wish us luck.

Love,
Amanda, David and Peanut

Let's All Welcome the Newest Addition to our Home!

No, it's not our baby girl. Unfortunately. While we were expecting an exciting weekend this weekend, I was hoping it was going to be in the form of contractions and labor pains. Instead, it came in the form of a Honda XR650L. Yes, my Evel Kneivel loving husband has purchased his very own motorcycle. And, he didn't stop there. He also has outfitted himself with a new (to him) helmet, jacket and pants. I'm 100x more grateful for the score of the protective gear than I am of the bike, but the fact that he comes back from a ride with a smile that stretches from ear to ear makes me very happy.

So, onto other weekend excitement....there is really nothing new to report on the baby front. Hopefully we'll have some action this week. My parents are here, so it's really nice knowing that they are here and ready should anything happen. We had a great day today at the local Farmer's Market, watching The Masters on tv and preparing for a delicious Easter dinner.

I'm posting my 9 months pregnancy pictures. And, since she couldn't wear this outfit today, she's wearing it on the outside.

Quick Update

I had my weekly doctor's appointment this morning, and there's not a lot of exciting information to report. All of my labor-inducing strategies have bumped me up 1/2 cm in dilation from last week, so I am up to 1cm. WOO - only 9 more to go. So, at this rate, we'll be in labor in about 4 months.

I went to the gym after my doctor's appointment and walked for an hour. When David finishes up work here, we're going back to the gym to walk again. I realllly want to have her this weekend!

We'll keep you posted if anything exciting happens, like contractions, lost mucus plugs or a water breakage, so STAY TUNED!

Bring on the Baby!

So, as most of you know, Sunday is our due date. MY plan, however, is for our baby girl to make her arrival tomorrow. My reason behind this is so that our weekend is spent in the hospital (and so we can possibly be home on Sunday to eat a magnificent honey-baked ham). David is only going to be able to take a few days off and my wish for him is that those days are spent at home with the new family instead of in the hospital helping me push our first-born out!

As a result, I have been trying just about anything and everything to encourage our daughter to make the descent down and out. Her unwillingness leads me to believe she is more of a Taurus than an Aries and worries me only slightly as to whether or not she'll be as stubborn as me or as stubborn as David. Neither is a good thing! Among the things I have tried (that I can mention here on this blog, that is) is walking, doing yoga moves, eating spicy foods, and eating balasmic vinegar on my salads. I'm off to the store to get the ingredients to a "labor salad" that I found online.

Apparently a restaurant had this salad on their menu and it had a 91% accuracy rate for inducing women into labor. A local radio station tried it and found success with 8 out of 10 of the women. So, I am fixing it for lunch AND dinner in the hopes that within 24 hours, we'll be having a baby. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Oh, the recipe for labor salad? Here you go:

Romaine lettuce
Watercress
Red Cabbage
Chopped Walnuts
Gorgonzola Cheese
Oil and Balsamic Vinegar

Eat and deliver!

Lulu the Lamb Finally Found Her Home

Some of you may remember this post where I blogged about the various "cravings" I was having...and a certain Lulu the Lam Stuffed Chair that was pretty much out of my reach. The only Babystyle store was closing and only a few of the brick and mortar sores were still up and running. I found one, about 3 hours south, that had a Lulu and had begged my friend Michele to ask her boss to pick one up for me since it was very close to where he lived.

I swear, I bugged Michele every day for a week straight, and I kept getting the "Amanda, you need to chill out!" line in return. So, I tried to be the cool, laidback friend who wasn't ever-so-slightly obsessed with this stuffed chair. And, as a result...you guessed it, they sold out of the chair by the time he went to pick it up.

I'll admit it, I was bummed. But, I think Michele was even more upset than I was. She really wanted to give Lulu to our Baby Girl. I checked and rechecked ebay, craigslist and the Babystyle website. And, you know what I learned? Persistency pays off! One day, a couple weeks ago, I noticed that the website had a new posting that said some of the inventory from the warehouse had been shipped to the remaining stores. So, I called up the store and found out that they had gotten a few more Lulus in. This time, I wasn't going to be laidback or cool. And, neither was Michele. She called up her boss and told him to get down to the babystyle store IMMEDIATELY. He promised he would get there before they closed that evening. He actually got there five minutes after it closed, but acted like a crazy man beating on the door until they let him in. But, he got it...which means, so did I!

We met up with Michele on Sunday and I couldn't wait to get home to put it in the nursery. It looks SO cute in there. And, in true form, we had to test it out with Magnum.

Oh, but I didn't stop there! Shortly after this I tortured him some more by giving him a shower and clipping his toenails. But, don't fear, Faithful Followers, he was handsomely rewarded with about 4 tablespoons of peanut butter and 3 Ruby Trout filet skins....AND, he got to warm himself up by the fire!

A big thanks to Michele (and her boss) for outfitting the nursery with LULU. I know our little one will love it!!

Because My Husband is So Darn Cute...

Here are a few more!

Excuse Me, Can I Get a Picture of That Big 'Ole Belly??

Daniel did an incredible job taking these pictures. We had such a good time with him and his fiance Laura. I don't think there are any other photographers out there who we would feel as comfortable around. They are both truly amazing people!

We got some really great shots in our backyard.

Our peanut is only slightly larger than this one!

Daniel took us to this beautiful field of mustard flowers and got some AMAZING shots!

(My personal favorite) And, of course, no Cooper/Michelson photo shoot is complete without a shot like this!

As I have a little more time to go through all the pictures, I may find some more to post.