Link to Aria's Blog...

http://strawberryfroglet.blogspot.com/

Our little firecracker is here!!!

She arrived June 14 at 10:18 am--8 lbs 13 oz and 20.5 inches and a very healthy set of lungs!! She's a red head like her mommy but everyone tells us she looks like daddy--We think she has C's sister's eyes--a beautiful almond shape that make her look ever so slightly alien. She's unbelievably beautiful and we can't believe how lucky and happy we are.

We've had about 6 hours sleep in the past 3 days and arrived home from the hospital last night. We have lots of pictures and will be posting them in a separate Aria blog and/or sending them out via email as soon as we get a moment.

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow....

Only 12 hours now until we meet Aria!! The u/s tech told us Monday that she is "at least" 9 lbs and has no visible hair floating in the amniotic fluid. Warning: she might be bald! Based on the Mon measurements she has very long legs, a big belly and a regular sized head. I'm hoping for a red head, but that might be more of a curse than a blessing in Southern CA.

I'm sure we won't sleep tonight. C will try to post stats and info this weekend.

Baby gift...

We have a tradition in my family that the wife gets a piece of jewelry from her husband for each child. I'm not sure if it goes back any further than my parents, but we have continued the tradition. My "baby gift" arrived last night and I love it. It is a pendant with a black pearl (the baby's birthstone) based on the tri-Koru Maori necklaces C and I wear. My friend B tells me it looks like two parents surrounding/protecting the baby/pearl. What beautiful symbolism!

"The spiral is a Koru, represents the fern frond as it opens bringing new life and purity to the world. It also represents peace, tranquility and spirituality along with a strong sense of regrowth or new beginnings.

The Koru is also often associated with nurturing so when interlocked with others is frequently used to represent the strength and purity of a loving relationship within a family."

Memorial Day...

We've had a great weekend! Went to a mojito fest yesterday at a Filipina friends house and had various meats on a stick, egg rolls, salads --I brought a fresh corn pudding which was awesome (recipe in this month's Sunset magazine) if I do say so myself. I had a "no-hito" which is a mojito without rum-surprisingly good! They also had home made root beer (5 lbs of brown sugar in 5 gallons!!!) and home made chocolate beer which I accidently took a sip of thinking it was root beer--yummy!

We had dinner with the neighbors Z and L. They have a 20 month old little girl and a boy due 5 weeks after me. We had tri tip and a great time over there.

Today is the six year anniversary of my Dad's death. He died on Memorial Day which was fitting since he fought in World War II and is interred at Arlington National Cemetery. My mom and sisters visited yesterday. I'm a little sad today that he won't know his new grand daughter...

Update...

Not much new to report. Becoming less comfortable by the day...only 3 1/2 weeks to go. Just had a friend from DC in town which was fun. She was playing in a water polo tournament here. Another friend from the "inland empire" also came to the tourney and it was great to hang out with them.

We are still trying to do some last minute stuff, replace our entry doors, get some concrete estimates for our patio, finish getting the baby stuff, pack for the hospital, go see Spiderman III and enjoy our last Memorial Day as non-parents....

Link to my San Diego Shower Blog!

http://rachelsshower.blogspot.com/

Aria's Birthday will be FLAG DAY!

Otherwise known as June 14.

It's a BOY!

No not for me, for my sister C. Her little boy, Will arrived today, 10 days early at 8 lbs 1 oz and 21 inches! We are so excited for them! Sister J was visiting from CA and calling with updates throughout the morning. Hoping to post pics soon...

We're having a HUGE baby....

So C and I went to the ob earlier in the week for an u/s. Baby S is HUGE! She's measuring 2-4 weeks ahead of schedule (head, torso, legs) and the ob wanted to make sure we are on board with a c-section, if she continues to grow at this rate =) Uh, yeah!

Having a little trouble getting comfortable and sleeping these days but can't complain...only a few weeks now.

Update on Gigantic Baby S

I didn't gain any weight in the past 4 weeks-which was shocking to me but ob thinks is just fine. I think its because C and I have been swimming twice a week, plus its hard to fit food in my stomach at this point. I get full pretty quickly. I'm still measuring 3 weeks ahead (!) in fundal height (measurement between pubis bone and top of uterus) and they want to do an ultra sound on Monday to see just how big she really is...

RIP Bee's

I spent the morning figuring out what to do with the bee situation. We contacted a bee keeper two weeks ago via email. She said the bees were probably just visiting, they rarely hive in trees and to leave them alone. In all likelihood they'd bee gone within a few days...HA! Last week we noticed them building a hive in the tree. By today it was about twice the size of my head!! Apparently bees can make 1/2 to 1 lb of honeycomb per day and increase the size of the hive to 60,000 bees fairly rapidly. We contacted our homeowners association (they are responsible for our front yard) and after a few hours of debate between the board and the property management company, they agreed to "take care of the hive". We have a fair number of young children in our neighborhood and a swarm that size could do serious damage if disturbed.

We were hoping that this would mean stunning and relocating the hive but apparently the location, cost and liability issues precluded this option and instead the HOA contracted an exterminator for $150.00. Within 20 minutes the dude killed the bees and cut down the branches the hive was on. I am sad about this, I hated to see them exterminated.

Shower pictures...

Finally posting some pictures from the Feb shower. mrs j, c, s and mom, the spread, my favorite cake, opening gifts

The swarm....

So C was coming home from surfing on Saturday and notices a swarm of thousands of bees around the tree in our front yard. It is possible that they are Africanized bee's (Killer Bee's) but not super likely. I found this info on Wikepedia:

When honey bees swarm from the hive they do not fly far at first. They may gather in a tree or on a branch only a few meters from the hive. There, they cluster about the queen and send scout bees out to find a final location. The swarm may fly for a kilometer or more to the scouted out location.

Swarming creates a vulnerable time in the life of honey bees. Cast swarms are provisioned only with the nectar or honey they carry in their stomachs. A swarm will starve if it does not quickly find a home and more nectar stores . This happens most often with early swarms that are cast on a warm day that is followed by cold or rainy weather in spring. The remnant colony after having cast one or more swarms is usually well provisioned with food, but the new queen can be lost or eaten by predators during her mating flight, or poor weather can prevent her mating flight. In this case the hive has no further young brood to raise additional queens, and it will not survive.

We are going to give them another day or two to move on before requesting that the HOA gardener "take care of" the honey bees that have gathered in our tree. Bee's provide such a valuable service, I hate to kill them but NIMBY--not in my back yard, or front yard as it were.

Nursery...almost completed!!

C finished painting the nursery --he made the stencil and painted the waves around the room. Isn't he wonderful? All we have to do is put up the curtains my mom made for us and a few wall hangings and we are done! I'm still feeling pretty good, although I have my glucose test tomorrow...Fingers crossed I pass. C and I are still swimming together a few times/week. Went to dinner with some friends here on St. Patty's day and had a fantastic time. We can't WAIT to welcome baby Aria!

C turns 36 on Monday!!

I got him a PS III. It doesn't just play games, it also plays DVD's in high-def. Pretty exciting. He also received PJ's (work attire=) from his Dad, shirts from his mom, Longboard magazine from my sister C and BIL D, Claim Jumper gift card (Cheesecake Factory-like local chain) from my sister S and BIL H, a PSIII game "Resistance" from my sister J and her partner Dugart N--they know how he loves those first person shooter games, last but not least a mug warmer and glass cooler for his "office" from my mom.