Veronica + Hiccups

A video for you!

Veronica is slowly growing out of the hiccups (not completely, of course–just the “getting the hiccups every three seconds” phase). And we were going to take a short, “Veronica being Veronica” video, but she got the hiccups just before Daddy started shooting the video. But what is more “Veronica” than the hiccups?

P.S. Yes, I sound like a total dork. And I don’t care.

 

Mr. Seahorse

Veronica has shown zero interest in most toys and books so far. This is to be expected considering she’s a newborn. But there is one toy that she has shown an interest in (really, the only one so far), and I think she’s already grown attached to him. She will actually fall asleep on her own listening/staring at him in her bassinet (or after getting her diaper changed, as you will see in the photo below–hey, she was happy where she was! We weren’t about to move a content baby). He came all the way from North Dakota with Gramma and Grampa back in August.

In all our infinite creativity, we have named him Mr. Seahorse, or “Horsie.” Yeah, clever, we know. And we go nowhere without Horsie. He’s pretty cool, you know–he glows AND he plays music. What more could a girl ask for?

You will probably be seeing him in lots of photos of Veronica!

Veronica and her best friend, Horsie

Post-bath Hat

We always put a hat on Veronica’s head after her bath. This was one piece of advice we received from the nurses at the hospital we take very seriously. The hat stays on until her hair is dry, which isn’t really very long, but she can lose a lot of body heat out of the top of her head because of her wet hair. So on the hat stays until all that strawberry blonde hair is dry!

This picture was taken on November 5th, while the hubby’s mother and stepdad were in town. Veronica got a bath and decided she needed to hold onto her hat for dear life! It was way too cute to pass up.

"It's mine!"

November 13th

Just some random photos from November 13th. ‘Cause they’re cute.

Ah, I love this one. So Veronica. And her many faces.

Family Ties

The hubby’s mom and stepdad came to visit us this past week, and Grandma brought baby pictures with her. Veronica looks just like Daddy . . .

Veronica

Daddy

and just like daddy’s mom!

Veronica

Grandma P.

Veronica, day 2

Actually, these could have been taken on her first full day of life, but we’re not going to split hairs. The Bella Baby photographer came by our second day in the hospital and took these fabulous photos of Veronica. We purchased the CD and the rights to the images, so now we can print and post them to our hearts’ content!

Isn’t she beautiful?

Yeah, I’m totally not biased.

So sleepy

So pretty

So serene

So smiley

So sweet

Veronica Belle

We welcomed Veronica Belle into this world on October 16th, 2009 at 12:08 p.m. after a 9.5-hour, all-natural birth.

She weighed 6 lbs. 15 oz. and measured in at 19.5 inches. She’s a cuddly baby with soft brown/blonde/red hair and a sweet little smile we get treated to when she’s a little sleepy.

Here is our beautiful little girl’s first few days on this planet:

On my tummy, right after birth

Getting all cleaned up

Exhausted, happy mommy with her bright-eyed little girl

Daddy and his baby girl

Veronica's first bath!

Post-bath baby

Snuggles!

Going home!

Finally home

38 weeks 4 days

38 weeks 4 days

Another Baby Update

I know this is a little late, as I’m reporting on information I received from this last Friday’s baby appointment, but it’s been a particularly stressful end of the week/weekend. A neighbor’s tree landed on our house after taking out the neighbor’s garage. It was a 300-year-old oak tree, and it caused more damage than we had thought–it ended up causing some leaking into our den (which is also my office) that we didn’t discover until during a rainstorm on Friday. Everyone is fine, and the house is finally on the mend, thanks to some speedy work by our landlord, his insurance company, and a great general contractor. I’ll try to post more about that later.

Now for happy baby news!!

As of Friday, October 9th, she was measuring in at around 7 lb. 1 oz., which is around 38 weeks, and considering I was 37 weeks, 5 days, we’re right on track! She’s very healthy with a heart rate in the upper 130s/140s (it always jumps up a little when they’re getting the reading)–she’s consistently in the 140s when they measure, so that’s great! She’s still head-down, of course, and she’s still facing my right side. She’s pretty tightly snuggled in there, but she still can get my belly moving quite a bit when she starts moving her arms and legs around. I think that’s about all she can get going these days!

As for me, I continue to have feet and ankle swelling on and off, but my blood pressure is great, and I’m “a good” 1 cm dilated and 80% effaced. Of course, I could be like this for the next two weeks, but considering I wasn’t dilated at all and only starting to thin out the week before, this is definitely steady progress, according to my midwife. She said she wouldn’t be surprised if Baby Girl makes her big appearance sometime this week. We’re not holding our breath, but we’re keenly aware of the fact that she could honestly and truly come any day now.

We’ll keep you all posted!

Hugging Laughter

A couple of weeks ago, the hubby and I were sitting on the couch, and he made me laugh really hard. When it turned into giggles, he nodded to my belly and said he had noticed how my stomach muscles pull in when I’m laughing. He said, “She’s going to think that a laugh is a hug for a while after she arrives.”