Michaela Faith

We are home! Three nights are in the books and both Brook and Michaela are doing great. Last night was a little rough, but we survived to tell about it. Our motto is one day at a time.
Here are some photos to hold everybody over.

Welcome Michaela Faith to the world! August 8, 2009 at 3:46 pm. She weighed 7 lbs 7 oz and was 19.75 long

Epidurmal is in full affect. Brook is getting ready to push anytime now. Maybe good news within the hour.

reat!

Checked into the hospital around 2:30 am. Brook is progressing nicely and we expect to meet our daughter in less than 3 hours. Brook is a champ and is doing g

Anxiously Awaiting

Baby update...

As of 10:21 am on Friday, August 7, we are still anxiously awaiting the arrival of our daughter. Brook experienced some periods of contractions yesterday that made us hopeful that the time was nearing. But after some careful reading, our professional medical diagnosis was that her contractions were closer to "false labor" contractions than "real labor" contractions.

You can read what we have read...

"Sometimes it's very hard to tell false labor from the early stages of true labor. If you're 37 weeks or more, here are some things that might help you sort it out:

• False labor contractions are unpredictable. They come at irregular intervals and vary in length and intensity. Although true labor contractions may be irregular at first, over time they start coming at regular and shorter intervals, become increasingly more intense, and last longer.

• With false labor, the pain from the contractions is more likely to be centered in your lower abdomen. With true labor, you may feel the pain start in your lower back and wrap around to your abdomen.

• False labor contractions may subside on their own or when you start or stop an activity or change position. True labor contractions will persist and progress no matter what you do."

Baby Update

We have recently learned that our blog has a couple daily followers. And that is truly impressive since my history of updating our blog is not real solid. So this blog update is dedicated to our two faithful readers...this goes out to my Grandpa and to Marsha.

The baby counter on the right hand side of our blog is completely accurate. We are still waiting for our daughter to arrive. We have been having weekly doctor's appointments for about a month now and the good news is this: the baby has dropped. She has moved from the -5 position to the -2 position (if that means anything to anyone).

Brook is still feeling good but is getting anxious to give birth. Her last full day in the office was last Friday and she is now working part-time from the comforts of home. Kenji has been blessed with twice daily walks in an attempt to induce birth.

Speaking of induction...there is no plan on the horizon. Although the doctors say that they won't let her go much more than a week or so past our due date.

So that's the baby update. But on a side note, we gotta give a shout out to the Blazers tonight for finally getting the Brandon Roy contract signed. Now let's get Aldrige signed and get ready to win a championship. And we also need to give a shout out to Barcelona for absolutely dominating the Seattle sounders in an exhibition match 4-0. It is nice to see Seattle show up 67,000 strong to watch soccer, now if only their team would have shown up to play soccer.

Hopefully our next post will be baby photos...stay tuned.

Almost Ready

With less than 16 days to go (plus or minus 2 weeks), the nursery is shaping up. The crib and dresser is assembled and we even have a mattress and bedding set. Last week, we struggled to put up a custom quote on the wall. We ordered this vinyl lettering pack from http://www.chattywalls.com/ and it was suppose to be so easy to put up that it would be addicting. Not addicting and not easy. But it is up now and it looks good.


Check out the pics...

Victoria B.C.

Brook and I spent the weekend in Victoria B.C. to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary. In some ways, it was also our "babymoon." Evidently it is the new fad for couples to go on one last wild adventure before having their first child. Well, we weren't very wild, but we did leave the country for the weekend.

We headed north late Thursday night and stayed at the Puckett Bed & Breakfast in Seabeck, WA. For those who don't follow along, that is my parent's house. We were able to sleep in a little Friday morning before heading off to catch the 12:00 pm ferry out of Port Angeles, WA.

The ferry is a passenger-only ferry and they advertise a 55 minute crossing, although Brook and I believe it is closer to a 70 minute crossing from our experience. We also discovered the weak link in our nations security. All in all, a great way to get to B.C..

Upon docking in Victoria, we made the three block walk to the Andersen Bed and Breakfast (see http://www.andersenhouse.com/). The owners of the house have been operating there for 21 years and they do a fabulous job. It is a small B&B with only three rooms. We stayed in the Casablanca room which was really nice. Besides being close to the ferry, it was extremely close to downtown (Parliament Building, the Empress, the Royal Museum, etc.).

On Friday, we explored the dowtown area. We toured the Parliament building, went to an IMAX showing, went into the Empress, walked the Boardwalk and all through the dowtown area. We ate at an Irish pub for dinner and then enjoyed our walk back to the B&B.

Saturday featured breakfast at 9:00 am. Afterwards we walked towards the Bus terminal to catch a bus to the Butchart Gardens. However, we saw the Budget Rental Car lot next door and decided to rent a car for the day. Turned out to be a great choice because we were able to explore every bit of the Pennisula. We drove the coastline to the Butchart Gardens (see post below) and then continued around the island stopping lots of places in between.

All in all, I think that Victoria became a favorite new place to travel for Brook and I. We both loved the feel of the town and all that it has to offfer. We would love to return and do some biking and kayaking.

Butchart Gardens

See post above for more information. Brook and I spent the weekend in Victoria B.C. celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary. On Saturday, we rented a vehicle and drove around the coastline of the pennisula, including a stop at the world-famous Butchart Gardens. Despite me emptying out my wallet in order to get in the gates of the garden, we had a wonderful time and were amazed by the amazing amount of acreage covered in flowers.

Enjoy the photos below.