Our sweet little Danali is two weeks old. We took her in for her check up and she is doing beautifully regaining her birth weight plus a couple of ounces weighing in at 6 lbs 15 ozs and 19 1/2 " long. Here are a couple of photos from her two week photo shoot. She has been such a delightful baby. We are having so much fun being her family.
We love snuggling this tiny little love.
I love her big eyes. They are so expressive. So often she will just gaze up at us with such trust and innocence that my heart swells.
I love that I was able to capture her smiling. She is our most smiley baby awake and asleep. She often smiles when Jon sings to her which makes him feel like a million bucks.
I don't want to forget a moment of her infancy so the camera is out all the time. I am feeling a small sense of panic that it is all going to go so fast, like I am going to turn around one day and gasp because she is already 4 months old, then 6, and before you know it we will be celebrating her one year birthday. I think that it is because she is our last baby and I want to savor every moment.
I planted my very first garden this year. Jon made me large planter boxes, I consulted with my aunt and grandma (the gardening experts in my family), I bought starts at the Poulsbo Farmer's Market, I fertilized, I watered, I loved, and in return all I got was heartbreak. My dog dug up one of my gardens three times, effectively killing my lettuce, spinach, and cucumbers. I fought slugs who launched an attack against my herb garden, my strawberries, and my string beans. Just when I though I had won the battle the birds spotted all my beautiful red strawberries and another battle was waged. The sun burnt up the majority of my sweet peas and my daughter decided to pick the flowers that would be my bell peppers. But today, today, I won the war!!! I ventured outside and guess what I found, fruits and vegetables. Ripe and beautiful. My tomato bushes are laden with big tomatoes, most green, some red, my zucchini bushes have little zucchinis on them, the bell peppers are green but growing, there are a handful of strawberries every time I check on them, and I was able to harvest a dozen peas and string beans. The crop is small but the feeling of pride is large. My kids kept saying, "we are great gardeners"! I have to agree. 
he coached, calmed, and encouraged me. There were a few moments of panic when I felt overwhelmed with the pain and the speed at which everything was happening but Jon just stayed focused and talked me through it. In the end, the nurse and a CNA delivered the baby 20 minutes before the doctor arrived. Danali was beautiful and healthy so they laid her against me and left the room. It was such a special feeling in the room. We just marveled at her and loved on her for an hour and a half. She nursed right away and immediately seemed to sense how wanted and cherished she was.
The ironic thing is that I have been so miserable with this pregnancy that I have just wanted it to be over. Now that I am on the eve of that happening, I am feeling a little sense of loss. I wanted so much to enjoy this pregnancy. It is the last, we worked so hard to get pregnant and stay pregnant, and I wanted to be all glowy and full of maternal bliss. Instead I have been sick the entire pregnancy (just this morning I was on the bathroom floor trying to convince my contracting stomach that there was no more food left in me to throw up and that dry heaving really didn't do anyone any good) and I starting having contractions two months ago. I am so uncomfortable and don't sleep at night and when I do I dream of the time that I will have my body all to myself again. Its odd now that I am feeling sad about it being over. 
