3 month update

Hanging with Ethan.
My favorite sleep spot: Dad!
I love my swing.
My first tooth, yes at 3 months!!

Wow...babies take a lot of time!!!

Whew! How embarrassing! I was so intent on blogging every few weeks or at least each month and updating everyone on how Pippa is growing and changing. HA! How little I understood about motherhood, right???

Well, PJ is three months old, I am just starting to work part time again (from home thankfully), and it is finally time to sort through what seems like a thousand pictures on my camera and get to updating!!

The next few posts will be a bit out of order...but I'll put highlights from month one, month two and month three...then try to keep up from there!

We are all happy and healthy, and I can't wait to start sharing photos and milestones with you all once again.

Pippa Jane Arrives!!

Well, November 29 was my due date...and the day our baby girl decided to make her appearance! Patrick and I decided to take a long walk on the beach that morning, then still feeling antsy we decided to go downtown to do a bit of shopping and have lunch. During lunch I sort of realized I didn't feel all that great..and that maybe the contractions I was having were no longer the braxton-hicks kind. We decided it was prudent to be a bit closer to home if this was "it". This photo is me right when we got home from lunch, about 2:45 in the afternoon...and only about 5 hours from when our daughter was born!!!

Everything happened so fast; once the contractions started they came on strong and close together. Patrick waited about an hour to call our midwives thinking we'd be in for a long day and probably night, but when the first midwife, Alice, arrived around 4:30 I was so far along that instead of all the stuff to help me through labor she got busy setting up for the baby's arrival!

A few short, but intense hours later our baby girl was here!

Pippa Jane Redman

born 11/29/2008 at 7:50pm

7 lbs 1 oz

20.5 inches

Now the waiting game!

Well, I am in week 40...and just waiting, waiting, waiting! I am completely off work, and the house is reorganized and ready again after the craziness of the fire. Now what? My company gave Patrick and I the jogging stroller we wanted (which was a GREAT surprise!), so we put that together last night. This week I have also cleaned all the floors in the house, vacuumed all the furniture, organized a few dresser drawers...and this moring I baked banana bread!

Doesn't this baby know she is supposed to arrive this week???

New slide show through week 38.

Week 39 update

Well, I am officially off work this week, but today I worked for a few hours to prep for a board meeting I'll be attending tomorrow, so I am still plugged into the office. I felt like I was taking plenty of time off to prepare with some extra relax time, but it already seems to be going quickly!



Today I had an appointment for a car seat safety check, they helped me install the seat safely and showed me how to buckle the baby in securely. It was difficult enough with the practice doll, I can only imagine how it will be with a real baby until I get used to all the buckles and straps!



The next few days I'll be organizing the baby's stuff, her changing table, getting her crib situated, etc. I'll take and post some photos. Over the weekend Patrick and I had a date...possibly our last one for a while. Here are a few pictures of us, plus some of the dirt in our house from the fire.

Back at Home!!

Whew! What a crazy few days!! Patrick and I packed the cars and went to Maynard and Linda's Thursday night. Thursday and Friday the fire burned over 100 homes and got within a half a mile from our place! Saturday during the day the evacuation order was lifted for our neighborhood...but we are less than a block from the mandatory line and the air quality was so bad that we decided to wait one more day. We had a Saturday night date planned, so we went out and had a good time and tried to relax.
We came home this morning and were relieved to find the air relatively clear and most of the ash had stayed outside. Patrick hosed down the outside of the house and deck while I vacuumed around all the windows and doors inside. Fire crews had been up and down the street making way for equipment and removing brush, the evidence they were here is both strange and comforting. The worst thing today is the heat! It is about 90 degrees out and the house has been closed for days so it is HOT in here, but we can't really open up without letting tons of ash back in.
I feel good, no early labor or issues with the baby or anything. Patrick has done a great job of taking care of me and making sure I was out of the smoke and not working too hard. We're super happy to be back at the house and to know that we'll be able to have the baby here.
Everyone on the block seems to be coming home today and is cleaning up and settling back in. It feels strange to be back here and thankful for our good fortune when there are people so close to us who lost everything. There will be a lot of things to think about this year at Thanksgiving!
Thanks for all the calls and emails checking on us, I'll be posting pictures soon!