peanut

well, it's just us now. my family has all gone back home and now jer and i on our own with the peanut. it's exciting and scary all at the same time. today was my first day at home alone with marianne while jerry went to work. it's going to be quite an adjustment - spending my days at home for the next 10 weeks, taking care of this little one. i love every minute with her but it sure is overwhelming. one day at a time, right?

here are some photos taken over the last week - she's still tiny but it seems like she's growing so much already:

visitors

we've been so blessed with the family and friends who have been to visit us during our hospital stay and now that we're home. we have such amazing people in our lives and we truly appreciate how much everyone already loves our little peanut.

we're still expecting visits from her grandma + grandpa, uncle joe, aunt nati, uncle michael and cousin stella and other friends from here in denver. i'm hoping we'll get to bring her home to missouri soon to meet more family...especially her cousin jack who's on his way.

we also had visits from  friends - tiffany, the yeagers and the deegans - but we failed to get pictures during their visits. here are the visitors, "in order of appearance", that we did get photos of:

nana + papa:

vicki + heather:

alex:

aunt kimmie:

travis:

candi, stefan (not pictured) + peyton:

kevin + melissa:

marianne adeline

I finally have found some time to post photos of Marianne...

I will write more later about our birth story but marianne was born last wednesday at approx 2am. we spent four nights in the hospital and came home on saturday. so, yes, that's right i rang in my 31st year of life by waking up in the hospital with my husband on the futon couch and my daughter in the bassinet between us. it wasn't exactly what i suppose i had always expected of my 30th birthday but it was no doubt a beautiful day. 

we were welcomed home by marianne's nana + papa and her aunt kimmie! we have really settled into being at home and so far we've successfully managed two nights of parenting on our own! i think it really suits us but then again we're just taking one day at a time. 

being a daddy really looks good on jerry. i am so proud and appreciative of him. jer is doing everything other than the nursing and even then, he's been right there by my side to support and help. he's so amazing at taking care of both of his "little ladies" (as he calls us).

marianne getting ready for her first diaper change by daddy

our first family photo

marianne didn't come out crying...in fact, she was chanting "rock....chalk....jayhawk....K....U"! she was ready for march madness.

jer is the master at swaddling - he gave the nurses a few lessons actually

we WERE able to catch a few winks!

marianne ready to be discharged to go home 

(this is the first baby outfit we received...it was from our close friend Liz)

she fussed while daddy strapped her into the car seat but as soon as he picked it up to carry her out, she was as happy as a clam

being burped - our first night at home

daddy gets a hug from our peanut.

march belly

this is the first March, in about five solid years, that i can say my belly is not attributable to the likes of our st. patty's day festivities (read: green beer and car bombs). our friends had to fend for themselves on the porch of fado's! i spent the saturday walking and running errands (buying a breast pump and stocking up at the grocery - yay!) while jer spent his entire saturday working to wrap up audit jobs - well, he may have logged a couple of hours putting together an office March Madness betting board but other than that it was all honest work.

this will be the last official monthly belly shot!  thank heavens for that. we will be sending an e-birth announcement - so watch for that - and we'll try to post photos to the blog from the hospital (hip, hip, hooray for wifi in our recovery room) or at the latest i'll post some when we get home.

our bags are packed...

ready. set.

the nursery is "done"...well as close to done as it needs to be anyway. i still want to hang some family photos and buy/make new window shades but otherwise, we actually finished it this weekend. i LOVE it so much! i think jer is even impressed. 

   

   

  

i am actually feeling ready for her. i definitely don't want to rush my last days of "freedom" and getting in one more full week of work would probably be really good for the bank account but i certainly don't feel the burden of my "to do" list anymore. i busted ass this past week to get through as much of the list as i could - and i did. so now this week i plan to relax, call some friends, get a massage, no more pilates, no more water fitness...just put up my feet and wait for the contractions to start. oh dear God, did i just say that?

safe and secure

we now have the car seat installed!