4th of July = Selena’s first overnight trip

We went to the Tulalip Indian Reservation to stay with Chad and Rachele for the 4th at their cabin. KC also came with his girlfriend and her two kids, so we had a full cabin….so to say. Selena went to bed late and woke up at all hours of the night and met the new day at 6am bright and happy….egads, her parents weren’t too happy. The 4th of July consisted of the beach, blowing up fireworks and naked dudes…ok well we had two streakers down the beach. Someone threw a bottle at the streakers, so their hot headed dad came over and almost started a wrestling match….but all was calmed.

It’s Official… Amelia Island

Our new trip is Amelia Island. Located in Florida on the East coast, Amelia Island is a lot farther than Pensacola, different body of water too….should be interesting. Our condo is booked, all that’s missing is our plane tickets….woops. We’ll get right on that.

Hot Summer Days

Yup its been in the 90s this week. I love it. Bring on the heat baby! Now all I need is a swimming pool.

Rice Cereal Anyone?

Selena had her first week of rice cereal….she loves it, she wants me to dump all of it in her mouth at once, I can’t feed her fast enough. I tasted it and it’s not that good. Selena doesn’t know what she’s missing yet, but just wait.

World Cup

The World Cup is on Sunday and I’m rooting for Spain.

And finally I’ve been able to finish a painting/drawing….

It’s a little odd, but I feel like I’m inspired again….check it out.

I really thought that title just sounded good…hahah. Looks like the Pensacola trip will have to change locations. Oil has washed ashore all over the coast. It’s really sad and I wonder if Selena will ever see the white sands of Florida? I really hope she does, Florida has my favorite beaches. I’ve learned in the past ten years to not take people, places, things and memories for granted. On my worse day I know I have it far better than some.

In other news…the US has advanced again in the world cup. Another game commences.

Selena rolled over on Friday, June 25th, and I think this time it was on purpose. I wish I had a video camera. I mean I have one, but I’m just not fast enough to catch a roll like that.

Today is KC Franks birthday and we’re hitting up Theatro ZinZanni. It’s a 4 course dinner show. Serving food is part of the show. I took Peter for his birthday a few years back. They change the menu and theme every year, and it makes a great date night. I plan to drink like a normal person tonight. Its been over a year since I’ve had much to drink.

In other news

We found a nanny….my mom. She’s moving down the street and will rent a house while taking care of Selena. We’re really lucky to have her in Seattle. I know at times we fight and that just comes with a mother daughter relationship, but she’s a lifesaver in more ways than being a nanny.

Work is starting to get back to normal…although I feel like I’m always catching up and probably will be until I’m back to five days a week (starting in August). I’m going to apply to a PHD program at Seattle University, but I have a ton of work to do to preparation.

We want to introduce rice cereal to Selena this week.

Watching the World Cup in about an hour and a half. Peter is currently making breakfast….yumm. What a great guy.

I’ve been lazy about writing, or rather haven’t found the time.

I’m back at work and am enjoying being around adults, but also I miss Selena. There are sometimes I would like to hide out in a hotel room and just sleep. There go the days of sleeping in…now sleeping in is 8am….egads. I get up so early for work I’m surprised I’m not falling asleep at my desk. It’s been a rather hard transition this week, but all will be better soon.

To catch you up on what we’ve been up to

Selena continues to grow over night and is very talkative, laughs and has started to commando crawl. We’ve been doing physical therapy with her because of her neck and all of her exercises are helping her with rolling over and crawling. She hates to take naps, so we battle her every day and she’s extremely active, like her mom….aaaah. Nighttime is working out so far. Peter says he can’t work from home with her so we’re getting mom to watch her twice a week until we find a nanny. I’m just plugging along trying to figure out how to have some “me” time, being a mom, working and being a wife. Peter and I’ve been trying to figure out our relationship in this whole parent thing. I think we’re doing pretty good, but we have to keep communicating about our worries, issues and frustrations. It’s a whole new world.

I learned something new

A raccoon crawled under our deck and died just out of reach. So Peter had to use a shovel and broom to get him out. Animal control only picks up dead cats and dogs, so they told us to throw him in the garbage…made me sad.

The oil spill issue has really gotten to me. We’re suppose to take a trip to Pensacola in August and they’ve already spotted oil off the coast. I hope our white beaches of Florida aren’t ruined forever. The spill will have lasting effects and no one knows the real damage as of yet.

Selena has her 4 month appointment this coming week. I can’t believe its been 4 months already. Wow time flies. Peter’s parents are coming in this week. I’m excited to see them.

In other news the Sounders beat New England Revolution last night in a shut out….woop woop. The World Cup starts this weekend.

Aunt Linda came for a visit. We had a blast and managed to squeeze in a ton of stuff in three days; we went to Pike Place market, walked on the waterfront, bought crabs from the market (yummy), ate on Lake Union, visited two wineries, Chateau Ste. Michelle and the Columbia winery.

On the last day of Aunt Linda’s visit we went hiking all day. Man that was a work out. I’ve realized how out of shape I am. Peter lugged Selena around (he got the biggest work out). I had to breast feed on the trail….that was interesting. The entire hike we dreamed of giant burgers smothered with cheese, and our dreams came true. It was a nice way to end the weekend.

Nap time Sucks

Selena’s schedule was all messed up the past four days (not that she has much of a schedule anyways), but she’s been waking up at 5am ready for the day….egads. Mom is not a morning person and probably never will be.

Today I’m battling her with the nap….I’m trying to get her to take a nice long one, but it’s not working and this is the 4th time in a row I’ve put her down for a nap. Maybe I just need to wear her out.

Next Monday I start work again. I’m happy and sad all in one. I do need to be around adults, otherwise my language skills will be reduced to baby babble….hahha.

Selena is finally eating from the bottle…woo hoo! This is a good thing, because she’s going through a growth spurt right now, and my boobs are having a hard time keeping up.

She keeps changing over night and is so big.  At her 2 month checkup (last Friday), she weighed in at 10 pounds, 4 ounces.  She also got her shots…eek.  I actually cried, it was horrible.  The doc. says she has torticollis….basically she only turns her head to one side, sleeps on one side etc.  Her muscles are developing more on one side of the neck so we have to take her to physical therapy….yeah we’re bringing our infant to physical therapy.  We’ve already started working on her neck at home.  We’ve switched everything around so we can get her to turn her head the other way.

Selena giggles, coos, smiles and interacts well.  She can hold her head up on her own and we practice tummy time daily to get her crawling muscles going.

Swimming

I took Selena swimming for the first time this week.  She was interested, but cold.  We went under water a few times much to her dismay.  I’ll make a swimmer out of her eventually.  After swimming I had to put her in a warm shower and a bath.

She watched her first movie with me today.  They have a mother’s movie day at some theater out here and kids can come along. She was pretty good during the movie.

In other news…Peter and I had our one year wedding anniversary, although we’ve been together for nine years. We celebrated with dinner, a movie and, Peter made me a gift. Very sweet.

Lately Selena and I have been going on many outings and playing.  I’m also trying to do freelance work at home and get in shape….oh the plans I have.

The past two weeks have been a lot of trial and error when it comes to all things baby. Peter and I have had our moments but we’re hanging strong and learning a lot. Selena likes to sleep, so we have to wake her to feed….she also gets the hiccups frequently and likes to pee right when we change her diaper while grabbing a new diaper….hahaha. Needless to say we do laundry constantly, but we have a pretty chill baby.

Things I’ve learned to do while taking care of Selena:

texting while cuddling, checking email while pumping, reading a novel and magazines while breast feeding (Selena learned all about the economy and finances), grabbing my water bottle with my feet (I’m really good at this), typing and eating with my left hand (I’m a little slow with the left hand right now but getting better).

The neighbors gave us a baby bjorn carrier so I can’t wait to take her for a walk. I went for a 2 mile walk yesterday and it was a little much after labor….it’s only been 10 days, so I probably need to wait a little longer for exercise. I’m getting cabin fever.

Peter went back to work today for a half day and we miss him already.

Eli

And she came early….a week and a half early.

Here’s her birth story:

Labor was interesting..the one thing I learned from this whole birth process is nothing ever works out the way you plan it and so is life right?

I wanted to do a natural birth but on Tuesday the 16th I had the “labor signs.” We got excited but then I started leaking Amniotic Fluid…..a lot in fact so we went to the hospital and sure enough my bags of water was ruptured. Because of the increased chance of infection they want people to deliver within 24 hours of your amniotic sack rupturing…so they sent us home hoping natural labor would ensue, but if not we had to be checked in at 5pm on Wednesday, February 17th and we wouldn’t be leaving the hospital until I delivered. I had some contractions but nothing crazy. When we checked in they gave me a pill to induce labor and it worked too well…I had too many coming, so they gave me a shot to stop it, then it stopped it too much, so they they gave me potosin and upped it slowly but when it kicked in it was not like regular labor it was intense and I had a couple of contractions at the same time and they were coming frequently….so I said screw it give me the epidural…..that was the best thing I did….we were all able to sleep for a little while and rest and then it started to wear off on the right side of my body but still stayed on my left and I started to feel contractions again, but we were at the point of pushing so I had them turn off the epidural so I could feel the contractions to push….I was still numb in the areas that counted, but I was like, “I’m pushing her out before this crap wears off”….so I was able to push her out in about an hour, I also barfed a bit, it was rough…..and I had very little tearing which was good…I’m healing well. Anyways the pushing part seemed the hardest but the easiest if that makes sense and having my mom and Peter there was awesome…they helped so much, much more than they realize…..I had a lot of anxiety about labor beforehand, but it worked out although I never imagined it like it happened.

So Selena Elisabeth Voigt arrived on 2/18/10 at 2:34 pm, she weighed 7pounds 1 ounce and was 19 inches long with a full head of dark hair and she’s a cutie. I’m so lucky to have her and Peter in my life….I feel like the luckiest person alive and I truly think that labor was the most intense experience I’ve ever had!

Welcome to the world Selena!!!!

Lisa posted some pics from the baby shower and the Superbowl….there’s some good ones.
Here’s the Superbowl

Went to the doc. on Friday….says Peli is really engaged now…deep in the pelvic region, my cervix is soft but hasn’t opened….so she says probably not this week which is sort of a relief since we still have to get the house ready and we need to get a few things on our registry too….and have another date before we get no sleep for a while.

I’m ready for her to come though. My legs are starting to hurt and collect water, so that’s not fun by the end of the day and I’m getting less mobile, just want to chill.

In other news….it’s Vday this weekend, the Chinese New Year – Year of the Tiger and President’s day and I’m going to enjoy my three day weekend.

Wow….what a game! Hell has frozen over and I of course could not fly home for the festivities. We were representing here in Seattle though. I finally got to see the Saints win a Superbowl and it was fantastic!!!! WHO DAT BABY! This is our year 2010!!!! And even better we have a Peli on the way.

Our friends threw us a shower the day before the Superbowl and it rocked. We had a great time hanging with friends and eating some yummy food Rachele made. Peli got lots of fun presents and it was really nice to hang with friends. You can check out some of the pics here. Lisa and Spiz took a lot of pics, so I’ll link to their pics when they post them.

In other news I had a doc. appointment last Friday….she said Peli is engaged and my cervix is soft, but that she won’t come this week. So we will see…the countdown is on.

It’s now Tuesday and I’m getting more practice contractions….a few real ones too and I’m exhausted…..so we’ll see if this is a sign of what’s to come or just a random day in the life of a really preggers chick.

So we managed to de-fur our room. We kicked the cats out and they weren’t too happy. All night long they scratched at the door. We’re gonna try to buy them a cat condo of sorts as a bribe, it probably won’t work, but it’s worth a shot.

My belly is growing and I can’t find a comfortable position, but I’m in the final countdown and that’s exciting and scary all in one. Peter is really helping me out and I do appreciate his help. Currently we are just trying to get the house ready for Peli….they call it the nesting period. Hahhaha.

In other news, our friends are throwing us a shower this weekend and we’ll watch the Saints win the Superbowl (crossing fingers). I always said if the Saints made it to the Superbowl I’d fly home to watch the game, well I can’t fly anywhere right now. Oh well…

I’m finishing up my website updates, application for a PHD program and some freelance this week. Oh and trying to get stuff squared away at work. Seems like everyone is quitting all at once. It’s like a mass exodus, but I’m still there, until baby Peli decides to introduce herself to the world.