Uncle Bob visits Ava!

Ava's Uncle Bob visited us over the Memorial Day weekend. We had a fun time at the Kinetic Sculpture Race start and Bob got to meet Ava for the first time. He was incredibly sweet with her. I think she was a little confused since she had never seen such big, hairy hands before. :) I really hope Bob has the chance to have kids of his own--he'll be a great dad.

There are more new pics on our flickr site!

Breakthroughs- just within the last week

Things that make Mom happy:
Ava hitting 10 lbs. Fat rolls are so cute!
Nursing is tolerable. (No more pump & bottle washing! Yay!)
Because nursing is good, sleep comes easily.
Ava is smiling because she's happy, not just because she's pooping.

There are a few new photos on our flickr site... just click on the widget!

PROGRESS! (and Ava's first trip to Grandma & Grandpa Jones' house)

Yep, that is construction happening on our future property! A company has come out, removed the brush and begun to build up the turnout and driveway apron. It should all be done within the next week, and the lot split might go through soon after that. Our driveway will go between those two redwoods, turn to the right and the house will be just out of sight behind the tree limbs and another tree back there.

It was a nice afternoon, and since we wanted to go out to Blue Lake, we had to take Ava with us. It was her three-week "birthday" and she had a pretty good time at Grandma & Grandpa's house despite our not having many of our usual tricks to calm her down. (The big bouncy exercise ball, walking laps around our circular house, etc.) We would have needed a U-Haul truck to schlep everything out there, and Grandma & Grandpa might have thought we were moving in. (Not yet anyway...)

We just posted about 5 new photos on our flickr account... just click on the flickr widget to the right to see them.

'cause waking up is hard to do

This should work... We need to remember to take more photos and video of our little peanut. I'm pretty excited that we've managed to keep her alive for 2 weeks now. (It's hard to believe that we, two complete amateurs, were allowed to have a baby.) She's doing well so far. She likes to fall asleep in the sling after a feeding and a diaper change.

pics (finally!)

Click here to see photos of the most awesome thing in the whole world.

I'm still having difficulties being out of bed for too long, so the story is going to have to wait.

It looks like Kerri won the baby pool... congrats! (We'll figure out a prize soon.)

Thanks for all of your happy comments and e-mails!

"Cleo" gets her real name

Ava Catherine Jones was born on Saturday, April 12, at 2:58pm after a fast and furious 10 hours of labor. She came out within 45 minutes of us arriving at the hospital. She weighed 7 pounds, 9 ounces, 21 inches tall, and is practically perfect in every way! Full story and photos to follow soon.

my uterus laughs in the face of modern medicine!

Today's the due date. I know today isn't over yet, but I really doubt I'm going to have a baby within the next 4.5 hours. I can't wait to see if the widget says "-1 days to go" tomorrow.

I've been having contractions all day, but they're totally irregular and not getting any stronger. I'm trying to ignore them. I still have to poke my belly to really verify that I'm actually having a contraction. Anyway, Deanna says I can't have the baby until after 4 pm tomorrow because she's throwing a bridal shower tomorrow afternoon. I don't think she has anything to worry about.

It's now 7:30 pm, and Andy and I just finished dinner. We ate in the living room with the front door open--fresh air and the sunshine beaming in--it has been a gorgeous and rare day in Eureka. Varying weather reports say today's high was 68-72 degrees. Around 4:30 we took a hot tub at some friends' house, and it actually was too warm to be comfortable. Wednesday and Thursday were sunny days, but pretty windy. Today was just sunny, barely a breeze and perfect. It was the kind of day that makes you happy to live in Humboldt.

Tomorrow is the opening day of the Farmers' Market in Arcata. Our favorite local band is playing: Huckleberry Flint. Two members of the band, Adam Dick and Dustin Taylor, will be building our house sometime this summer, and Adam's wife is Deanna Dick, our doula for Cleo's birth. We are very blessed to know these folks and tomorrow should be another perfect day.