Our Ship Comes In

And aboard it was a wee swarthy pirate named Wesley! Here's some pics of his birth and....aftermath? afterglow? I dunno.

We were admitted around 1pm on 7/9. I'd been having contractions 5 minutes apart since about 4am that weren't getting stronger so we decided to head in and get checked out.

Turns out I was in early labor, and the frequency of the contractions (which were 2 minutes apart by the time I was admitted) was due to dehydration. (S'riously, I don't know how I could have drank anymore. I was downing gallons of water each day and peeing like every 4 minutes) Dehydration made getting a viable IV in very...um....interesting. 8 sticks and a resident (2 very skilled nurses having been unable to get a vein) later, I had my saline drip. All my boo-boos:

After a few hours and slow dilating (only between 3 and 4cms by now), my OB decided to break my water. That made things much more....interesting, pain-wise:

There's a bit of a gap in photos here, as I had grown black bat wings and was ready to disembowel anyone bold enough to snap one. Here's where Mom and Gavin were truly awesome, being supportive and helpful and just getting me through it by any means necessary (including some ill-conceived comedy routines).

I opted for the epidural after about 5 hours of !crazy! pain only got me to 5 lousy centimeters dilation. Once the epi was done I was so giddy I could dance (ya know, but for the fact that my lower body was asleep). My contractions still hurt but were totally bearable and I felt so much more relaxed....Only 2 hours later I was at 10 cms and ready to rumble. My AMAZING OB suggested we try pushing, and about 15 minutes later...

Mom telling it on the mountain:

That Ashley can take a picture:

Aunt Joy the next day:

Our little man-child:

It was a truly wonderful, beautiful birth and I was so happy and honored to share it with Gavin, Mom, and Ashley. Thank you guys so much for your love and for being part of an unforgettable night. And Wesley, I love you so so so much and am so happy to have you here with us on dry land.

Americana

Well, still pregnant with our boy Wes. But my wise husband suggested that instead of sitting around housebound staring at my belly we throw a BBQ for some of our awesome friends. It was quite simply a perfect 4th. You go, America!

The man in the above pic is a vegetarian, except on the off times when his girlfriend gets grass-fed family raised beef from her family's farm. And then all bets are off....

And to cap it all off, some benevolent soul lit fireworks practically in our backyard!

Stop and Smell the Roses

My Joyful Mess

For some reason on this cloudy morning I am struck by the happiness of my life. It is not anything resembling the life I would have constructed for myself 5 years ago if, like a director of a play, I could have manipulated the setting and costumes and characters, but I must say it is far richer and more lovely than anything done "on purpose"; only happy accidents end up this perfect.

I have a husband who understands me. Can I just stop at that for a moment- the crazy magic of one person in all the people really understanding you, and happening to have that person be your spouse? I have a daughter who is the physical manifestation of sunlight. I am surrounded by vibrant artistic friends who challenge and yet love me warts and all. And I have a family with whom I am cozy enough with to be myself- Bitchymyself, Vulnerablemyself, Reallymyself. Oh, and I have a son safe in my belly reminding me every 15 minutes or so with his barrel rolls and kicks that life itself is a blue-eyed miracle that we should just stand back and admire like slack-jawed tourists at the Grand Canyon.

My days are spent thinking about politics and art and the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and lofty future goals and how best to get oatmeal out of the carpet (let the dogs do it). I plan and soothe and clean and do funny dances and keep our little ship sailing in the right direction, and am so, so thankful for every minute of it. I fall into my bed each night thoroughly, happily exhausted.

So to sum up, life is good. Really, really good. Thank you God.

Photographic Proof:

The thing about New York Winter- you get New York Spring:

Found this art-installation in my window:

The artist was on hand to explain her work:

It is on-going:

By now, he is a crib-building expert:

Almost done w/ Kiddo's room:

Prospect Park en route to the zoo:

Sheeps!

Belly!

Cousins!

April was a month of visitors for us. Gwen got to meet her Uncle Tim, Aunt Alex, and Cousin William for the very first time. And got to see Grandma and Grandpa, AND got to see (second cousins? Second Aunt?) Becky, Amanda and Lisa!

I would write a whole lovely wit-filled, anecdote-laden summary of the awesome month, but currently Baby Wes is causing me to have horrid acid reflux and hate my life. So I'll let the pictures tell the story:

Cousins meet for the first time and dance with glee:

Hugs!

Art!

Uncle Gavin's Superman costume!

Bath time pics! Useful for embarrassment in years to come...

New York Aquarium:

Momma and Gwen:

Happy Easter!

We had a lovely holiday at our house! Missed Joy, who had to work, and of course our beloved West Coast Fam, who are waaay too far away, but still, a beautiful day. Gwen was a doll all day, and found Easter Egg hunting both fun and...well....kind of weird. I mean, how do you wrap your not quite 2 year old mind around the concept that some creature went around your yard laying neon colored eggs which you are meant to gather?

Gavin made the best Easter dinner I have ever had, and we had way too much dessert. So yeah, perfection. Oh, and tomorrow I'll put up some pics of the Fitzys trip out East!

Getting her basket on:

I know I'm biased, but...

Uncle Go-gee!

Gettin down to bidness:

Mom and Joey: