Feeding Bear

Clara learned early on where Bear's food and water bowls were kept (I have to admit, we have not babyproofed our home as much as parents should with a toddler). But I have tried to teach Clara what is good and what is bad instead of locking all the cabinets and hiding all the plants, etc. I guess it also helps that I usually stay involved with what she is doing throughout the day and although she is curious, she is good about staying away from stuff after you've told her "no" or "dangerous" etc. And she has never been a very oral baby (she didn't put much in her mouth like other infants do when learning about the world).

So anyway, at first she would just go over to Bear's food and water dishes and point to them. Then she would watch mommy and daddy fill up the dishes for Bear. Then she started to follow us as we poured in the food from the pantry and brought the food bowl back its area. Well, today she actually did it herself (wow a 21 month old is learning how to take care of a dog!). She pointed to the food bowl to let me know it was empty and then picked it up and took it to the pantry. So I lifted her up so she could reach it in the container to scoop up the food. She proceeded to scoop up the food, then I put her down and she walked with the bowl and put it back where it belonged. Then...she took the water bowl and picked it up. So I lifted her up so she could reach the sink and she held the bowl so it could fill up with water. Then I put her down and she took the bowl back to where it belonged.

We are not finished yet. THEN...she went over to Bear and informed her that she had food and water. She "led" Bear over to her dishes and pointed to them to let her know she could eat and drink (she was "talking" to Bear the whole time).

I could not believe it, that she actually performed a "chore."

She is adorable. If only Bear knew how much that girl loves her (since Bear cannot hear, I don't think she really knows that Clara loves her very much. Clara constantly says Bear's name and talks to her and tries to play with her). It is so cute!

Feeding Grandpa

Clara's newest thing is making sure everyone/thing is taken care of. She offers people food and drink. Even her blankie and stuffed animal friends. And earlier I posted a video on facebook of her feeding Bear her snacks.

Here she is feeding Grandpa lunch on Thanksgiving Day.

Marathon mommy

The last marathon I ran was the ING Georgia Marathon in March of 2008 so about 2 1/2 years ago. I attempted to train for the City of Oaks Marathon in the fall of 2009 but my head was not in it. Then I started to train for a new marathon, Tobacco Road, in March 2010 but...I sprained my ankle. So I set out one July morning and said, I am going to run this marathon this fall no matter what. And I did. So I completed my 15 marathon. And my first one as a mom! It was nice to have my daughter added to the fan support. (At one stop she cried because she wanted me to hold her :( .) Some photos from the morning.

The 7am start. It was 30 some degrees, but at least there was sun.

My friends, Jen and Melissa, came and ran some miles with me (through Umstead Park, the lonely and probably most difficult section of the race). Also saw a friend Robert on the sidelines cheering. That was a nice surpise.

Waiting for mommy to run by (around the entrance to Umstead).

Coming up the hill by the art museum.

Cheering for mommy is hard work + the fact I woke up early = I am tired.

The finish. I didn't have a real goal in mind but I kind of wanted to break four hours. I ran 4 hours and 2 minutes. As usual the last six miles were the most difficult. Mile 23, 24, and 25 were about a minute slower than what my pace was the whole race. But I kept the legs going and do feel good about my race.

And at the end, I got a massage. The BEST thing to do after a marathon. And come Monday, I could walk.

Fall Fun

We've had a fun fall season. Clara has been to the North Carolina State Fair, a pumpkin patch, and a fall fun fest party. She loved them all.

At the state fair this year, she checked everything out. We saw cows, baby chickens, pigs, rabbits, and a horse. She even tried a fried snickers. And just for the heck of it, Mike and I played that carnival game where you shoot water into a bulls eye and it makes a car/toy/etc. go up and the first to reach the top wins. Well, Mike won! So Mike won a stuffed dog (a gigantic chiuwawa) for Clara. She loves that dog. Her voice gets very high pitched and she squeals every time she sees the doggie.



Baby chicks, a rabbit, a cow oh my.

Lovin her fried snickers.

Clara and her doggie!

Then we went to a pumpkin patch where Clara picked out her very own pumpkin (and a small one for Bear).

hmm, so many pumpkins so little time. Where should I look for my pumpkin? I like this one...and this one!

Mommy wanting to take my photo. Okay, I'll let her get one with me looking at the camera.

Finally, the fall fun fest. Hope Community Church, a church that meets at Mike's high school, held a fall fun fest. They had carnival games, rides, bounce houses, and food. Clara went on her first train ride...and rode her first pony. She had a great time. And, once again, was very upset when the pony ride ended.

Bounce house fun!

Daddy and Clara waiting for the train to go.

I love my pony!

I'm having lots of fun! Thanks mommy and daddy for a great October!

Bedtime story

I pray this stays in my memory like it happened yesterday Tonight, Clara read me the bedtime story. Front to back, back to front...about 1000 times. LOVED it. She kept looking at me to make sure I was listening. Oh, I was...how could I not.

Enjoy EVERY moment with your little one. I will. She changes so fast and who knows how much longer she'll want to read the stories.

And in her own little language. SO CUTE!

p.s. this is when I again, wish I had a video camera attached to my hip. Those are the moments you want/need to capture on camera.

St. Louis trip in more detail

Hi, I briefly touched on our trip to St. Louis in one of my last posts. I am here to write more. We decided to drive, it is about 13-14 hours away. Now with an almost 17 month old child, one had to plan strategically. I decided we would leave after work on a Tuesday and drive about 7-8 hours to make our first stop. I planned that we would reach that stop around 11pm. Clara usually goes to bed around 7:30-8pm so in my perfect plan, she would sleep most of that drive. We traveled through Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois on the way there. Stopping in Kentucky (right outside W. Va) for the night. Well, first, we didn't leave Chapel Hill till 7pm. And we hit rain in W. Va. Terrible rain, thunder and lightening. Clara did not sleep. We got to our hotel at 2am. Got to sleep around 3:30am. Not a good start to the trip. The next morning we woke up about 9am, got breakfast and left Grayson, Kentucky around 12. My plan had us leaving Grayson around 10am but....We got to Churchill Downs around 2:30. That was cool. Spent some time there and then went to meet Mike's friend Jon in Evansville, In for what ended up being dinner. When I thought we'd get to St. Louis around 7-8pm at night, we got there around 12 midnight. ugh. We all went straight to bed.

Next day, we went to the Cardinals game. They lost :( . We had great seats, thanks to brother in law Dave. And the stadium had a place where kids could play so we spent some time there so Clara could run around. She did well despite the fact it was her nap time and she barely slept the last couple of nights.

Friday, we went to Grants Farm. Fun place. Clara first ride on a Merry-Go-Round. At first I thought she would not like it but oh, no...she LOVED it. I warned Mike she might throw a fit when the ride ended but didn't know for sure. Well, she threw a fit. So we went around again. Since we couldn't pay for a third ride, we had to distract her with something when we got off. We went through a misting tent, she liked that.

Saturday, everyone (including Daniel) went to the pool. Daniel's first time in the pool. I think he liked it. Now I wish I had held him more when we were there. Gosh, to hold a little baby again....

Sunday, we didn't do much because we left in the afternoon for our trip home. We went through Tennessee on the way home, stopping in Nashville for the night. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe, saw the stadium where the Tennessee Titans play, and went to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Once again, I planned...I thought we would leave Nashville earlier than we did getting us to Chapel Hill earlier than we did. Well, that didn't happen. We didn't leave till around 3 (I think) which was 4pm EST. AND...we hit really bad storms AGAIN :( . So that got us back to Chapel Hill around midnight and we didn't get home till 2. Clara, though, did sleep (after we stopped for dinner around 10pm).

It was a nice trip...guess I'll have to be more flexible with schedules next time. Clara was good for the most part during the drives (except in W. Va. I think she was just over tired). And it was nice to see parts of the country we had not visited before.

I think Clara has done more in her first 17 months of life than I did at that age. Besides driving to the center of the country, she has been on two plane rides (one to Las Vegas). She is such as easy baby (knock on wood). Everyone keeps telling me that. I've got to believe it since the travels with her have been pretty uneventful (again knock on wood). She is just so much fun!

A few more memories

...the way she "talks" on the phone. She grabs anything that she can put up to her ear. She puts the item up to her ear and next thing you hear is "Hi." Then a pause, then it sounds like she says "fine," then a pause, then a laugh, then more conversation. All the while she walks around the house. She is total girl :) .

...the weekend she started liking and playing with her stroller (August 14-15, 2010) and doll baby. She walked it all over the house. Then we went outside and she walked her doll around the neighborhood. She'd be "talking" and every once in awhile you'd hear "baby." And she said it in such a sweet, kind voice.

...when you asked her a question and she understood what you were asking, for example: go get me your stroller?...and she would go get it. Or, show me the puppy...and she'd bring over the puppy.

...she loved the word "ball."

...when she started saying "bye, bye" when we would leave places.

I'm sure there are a lot more so I'll have to keep adding to the list :) .

Daniel

This summer we traveled to St. Louis to meet our newest nephew/cousin Daniel. He is CUTE! Laid back baby. Clara attempted to entertain him. She even demostrated some bad habits that he can pick up later (like throwing food on the floor at meal time).

We went to a Cardinals game, Grant's farm and Ulysses S. Grant's house in St. Louis, and the pool. Clara loved the pool. She also went on her first merry-go-round ride. We had to pay for her to go twice because she loved it so much. At first she was like, oh..what is going on. Then as the ride went around and around, she smiled and enjoyed it. When it ended, she cried.

Clara and her Uncle Dave. Outside the Park.

We had a good time.

On the way there, we stopped at Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY. On the way home, we stopped in Nashville, TN. We should have spent more time in Nashville. There is a lot to see and do there. We did tour the Country Music Hall of Fame. That was pretty cool. We also went to the Hard Rock (check another one off our list). We bought Clara her first Hard Rock Cafe t'shirt.

Heading out, we ran into bad storms. AND heading home. Man the rain and lightening were awful. But we survived.

That was our first family summer vacation.

I pray I always remember...

...the way she giggles and laughs when I chase her around the house.
...her first smile.
...the first time I found her sleeping on her tummy (so cute).
...the way she sprawls out in her bed when she is sleeping.
...the way she cuddles with her stuffed "friends."
...the way she "loveys" on her stuffed "friends" and blankies.
...the way she gives me her "I'm so cute" face "don't you want to give me what I am asking for?"
...the way she pouts.
...the first time she crawled.
...the first time she walked.
...the way she used to lie across my shoulder and coo in my ear.
...the way her eyes lit up when she took in the world.
...her first halloween and we were at the Hick's house and she rolled herself all over their living room, babbling the whole time.
...the way she babbles and "talks."
...the ways she cuddles with me when she is tired.
...the way she plays hide and seek in the car.
...the way she "reads" a book.
...her first word.
...watching her come to greet me when I get home from work.
..the way she points at everything to ask what it is.
...she finding her belly button.
...the first time she danced.
...the way she dances with me.
...how she loved to be thrown in the air.
...the first time we found her standing in her crib.
...how she loved watching her mobile.
...how she loved turning on her mobile.
...the night I found her in her crib, lying on her giraffe-which was on, making the heart beat noise-and she was waching her mobile go around.
...how she would fall asleep in my arms.
...the first time she crawled and how she got frustrated because she went backwards.
...how she loved Bear.
...how she never stopped saying Bear's name (her second word).
...how she loved watching ice hockey on the television.
...when she learned to say "hi" when greeting people.
...when she started blowing kisses.
...her first kisses.
...the evening she saw my cell phone on the kitchen counter and proceeded to point to it and pout because she wanted it.
...watching her interact with her friends Braydon and Jack at daycare.
...watching her play with the neighbors.
...when she crawled down the driveway, turned onto the side walk (yes, she did that without me prompting her), and crawled all the way down to the corner..and of course...babbling the whole time.
...when she walked down the driveway, turned onto the side walk (a little prompting from me), and walked all the way down to the corner...laughing because she loved this new freedom.
...the way she would hold dirt or mulch or anything in both hands.
...when she started handing me stuff (the dead worm was the best).
...fun times in the bath tub.
...laughing at Tickle Me Elmo.
...the first time she pouted-her lip quivered and she let out a wimper. I couldn't help it but laugh.
...the way she made sure Bear didn't starve.
...the morning (New Year's Day no less) she decided she wanted to feed herself.
...the first time she ate spaghetti.
...the way she would grab my pant legs and look up at me.
...the way she had so much fun in her jumperoo.
...her toothless smile.
...the way she would concentrate when playing with her toys.
...the way she knocked down all the towers I would build.
...how she slept all day and would be awake all night to sleeping at night and being awake all day to sleeping all night and taking a nap during the day (yes, finally a schedule) :) .
...those 2-3am feedings.
...when those 2-3am feedings ended (haha).
...the way she "sings."
...the way she loves me.

The way she is the bestest baby in the whole entire world.

She's walking!

She took a few steps starting, last week on Monday, May 10, 2010. Today, Tuesday, May 18, she went crazy and walked all over the living room!

Strong

God must think I am a pretty strong person. I keep getting thrown punches, left and right, then once I get back up, I get kicked to the ground. I should feel honored. (yeah, right)

I was talking with Mike last night and said it is how we perceive it to be. We could look at all of this in a negative way and say, why do all these difficult and bad things keep happening to us or we could turn it around and say, I am honored that God believes I am this strong of a person to give me these challenges. If He believes I am strong enough to survive, then I should too.

I can say it, I can preach it to others, but do I believe it for myself. No. That is the hard part, how can I get myself to believe in what I say. I just succumb to the negativity and sadness and ask when it is going to end, why does this happen to me? All the while curling up in a ball and covering my face trying to avoid the punches. And say Mike's favorite phrase over and over again "nothing is ever easy."

So I have a very tough decision to make which will most likely lead to a very tough road ahead for Mike, Clara, and I. I don't know how many folks actually read this blog but if you are reading this and are a praying person, please pray for me and my family. We need all the prayers we can get.

In my memory

Just have to mention because it was just too cute. On Saturday, I was getting ready for the day and put Clara down in my bedroom. She crawled to the window and stood up to look out. I opened the window and she proceeded to start "preaching." It was so cute, she was just "talking" away to anyone who would listen.

Too bad it was a Saturday morning that our neighbor's, the O'Brien's, were out of town and not working in the yard. They could have listened to Clara's "Window Sermon."

Stuck in my memory, though, because video camera was not close by. I think I need to wear that thing on my hip from now on. Seems like at this stage too many cute things happen.

Reading a book

Clara loves to read....

These two videos should be one but I hit the stop button before I should have so I immediately hit record to continue. So pretty much this is one whole video.

p.s. you can hear Clara say "daddy" also.

12 months (1 year) old!

Clara turned 1 year old on March 1, 2010. The best we could get, she would not sit still at all for this photo :) . Guess that is bound to happen when you give her a cupcake (full of sugar) before trying to take her photo.


Here she is, she decided she needed to start earning her keep so she is looking at the help wanted ads online. hahahaha....


On her birthday we, of course, went out to dinner (ya gotta go out when it is someone's birthday). We went to Sweet Tomatoes. We were introduced to this restaurant by Raymond, Mike's brother, and his family (Melissa, Preston, and Lila Anne). Those not familiar with Sweet Tomatoes, it is a buffet restaurant. It has a huge salad bar and then a hot item bar that has pizza, pasta dishes, soups, muffins, etc. A great place to take a child to also. Clara ate a lot, she even ate kidney beans :) .

Here she is, enjoying her cupcake at home for dessert.


Happy Birthday Clara! You will always be my little baby girl :) . Love, mommy.

Party time!

Clara turned one on March 1, 2010. Oh what a year it has been. We've had our ups and we've had our downs but certainly the ups far outweigh the downs :) . She is great. She says about 4 words now: daddy, baby, Bear, and hi. And she loves the phrase "uh, oh." And she knows when to use "uh oh," when she drops something.

She is not walking (on her own) yet. She cruises or holds on to mommy or daddy's hands. She does stand on her own, though. She did that for the second time last March 20. And today (March 27), she stood by herself for her photos at JC Penny. So of course, I bought some copies of those. She'll be walking soon.

Okay, so back to turning one. We held her big birthday bash on February 27. Here are some photos from the day. I tried to capture a little girl theme and had pink decorations. It was a lot of fun.


The party favors are ready for the guests.

Clara's birthday cake (my attempt to decorate it).


Enjoying the balloons with grandma/grammy.


The house is decorated. Clara is admiring the balloons with grandpa/grampy.


We even had homemade cupcakes (courtesy of grandma/grammy) with homemade pink frosting :) .




One of Clara's best buddies, Braydon, came to the party with his mommy and daddy. Even Bear got in on the action.


Some more party food, finger sandwiches and veggies, yummy....


We have a tradition in the Meyer family that on a child's first birthday, we get out a rosary, shot glass, and coins. Whichever one the baby picks up first is what they will be like in their future. Clara picked up...none other than...the...shot glass :( . (Why couldn't you have picked up the money, uh?... :) heehee.)

Cake time. Clara didn't know what to think of her cake. She put her hand right in the frosting and made a mess. Then she proceeded to take a bite. She liked it :) .


Finally, presents. Clara got some really cute clothes and some cool books and fun toys.

A fun time was had by all. Fun and sad at the same time. My baby is growing up :( . She has entered toddlerhood.

What the camera sees when in a baby's hands

Two videos, I hit record and let what happened, happen. And until recently, we couldn't get any video of Clara talking so this was one way to get to hear her speak.

And yes, at the end of video 2, she puts the camera in her mouth. And that is me laughing in the background (trying to laugh quietly). :)

Sit back, relax, and enjoy...

Clara's first year of life in pictures.

Video is about 10 minutes long.

Clara says "hi"

Clara's three words are: "daddy," "Bear," and now "hi."

And I think I heard "so big" come out of her mouth too.

:)

12 month stats & milestone moment

We held Clara's birthday party for turning 1 year old on Saturday, February 27. It was a lot of fun. So many people have played huge parts in Clara's life this past year. We had a good time.

And I reflected on how far we've come in a year. And I have to say, pretty far.

I'll post pictures later but had to note this milestone first. She must have been on such a sugar high after eating her cake because she opened a present, grabbed the book inside, raised it above her head and proceeded to STAND ON HER OWN! Yes, Clara Grace Biasi stood all on her own on Saturday, February 27, 2010. Now, it is possible it was the sugar talking and it will be awhile till she does it again but...that was her FIRST time so it counts :) .

Okay, stats: we went to doctor today. Clara is 29 1/2 inches long. She weighs 18lbs 4ozs. She continues along the tall and thin line. Her head is 17.5ins.

She grew 2 inches since nine months and gained 2lbs. I'd say that is pretty good.

She also got three shots and a prick in her finger. Did not enjoy that. She went to bed early tonight.

Goodnight!

Clara's birth story

I cannot believe it has been almost one year. It is so true, it goes by so fast. From this fragile tiny creature to a little girl who loves to be thrown in the air. She has grown up so much and so fast. I pray I remember all the details from the very first day she came into this world. So I shall start...

I want to write this down so it is not forgotten. I don't know if I have written all the details down anywhere yet.

To begin I'll provide information leading up to the big day.

39 week doctor appointment. No progress with dilation or effacing (thinning of the cervix). The midwife was one of those "wambam, thank you ma'am" type of person. She came in, did her thing, and left. Mike and I were like...okay....

40 week doctor appointment was on Clara's due date, February 19. (Oh, I do have to mention that the night before this appointment, Mike and I were downstairs watching television, there wasn't a real bad storm or anything but we heard some thunder. Next thing we know, there is a bright flash of light in the middle of our living room and the loudest clap of thunder one would ever hear. Scary. Our neighbors joked, if that doesn't put you in labor, what will?...). Anyway, again no progress with dilation or effacing. This time we saw the midwife Jessica. We like her. She gave me some ideas on how to get things going. I scheduled another appointment, what would be my 41 week appointment. If I didn't go into labor naturally, I would have a nonstress test to check on the status of the baby and then would be scheduled for an induction. I prayed and asked others to pray that I'd go into labor naturally.

Okay, back up a little more. I certainly didn't know what to expect regarding labor and birth, I'd never been through anything like that before. So Mike and I take these birth classes and we watch some videos and I get the idea in my head that I want to try and have my baby naturally. For me this meant, no pain meds or epidurals. Which translates to...I will feel everything. And all I know is I didn't want to be induced because I heard, if that happens, it will be hard to go through labor with out an epidural or pain meds.

My sister Mary Anne said after she had her second, she had felt like she ran a marathon. That made me think, I can do this, I can have a baby naturally. My sister Jessica said, "get an epidural."

I'm a strong woman, I run marathons all the time. I've pushed through a lot of pain before and survived. I want to do something that not too many can do, give birth naturally. What a story to tell others. Others will admire me, I will be looked at as strong. All this runs through my head the days leading up to Clara's birth.

Okay, day before 41 doctor appointment. I am woken up around 1am by contractions. Okay, hmm, could these be the real thing,, I wonder. Tell Mike (he gets worried). I get up and walk around. They subside, which most likely means, it is pre/false labor. But it is hard to go back to sleep. I call my sister to talk. Decide to proceed going to work. Tell the lady I carpool with but no one else that I feel contractions. Work all day. Go to church (it is Ash Wednesday), go out to dinner. It was not a good day, I did not feel well all day but dinner did make me feel better.

Okay, 41 week doctor appointment. We see midwife, Kim. We like her also. Nonstress test is fine. Baby is fine. Showing no signs of wanting to leave its cozy place. But I am 50% effaced. Kim does something to try and get things moving faster going. She schedules us for an induction for Sunday, March 1. We ask her who will be on. She says she will and she got us into this, she may as well get us out of it :) . And if we go into labor on Friday or Saturday, Jessica was on. So we got a good weekend to have a baby. Both midwives that we liked were working. Mike and I go home to realize, no matter what, by Sunday night we will be parents.

I continue to pray that I start labor naturally so I don't have to be induced. Friday, nothing. Saturday, nothing. But I do clean the whole house. Okay now...

1:30am Sunday, March 1: wake up having contractions. Get up, walk around, start watching the time. They are seven minutes apart.

2:30ish, wake up Mike. Mike proceeds to get up and start doing something, what I have no idea...I think he finally started packing his bag. Mine was packed. I try to go back to sleep because I'm exhausted. Hard to sleep.

4:00am, finally fall back asleep. Only to wake up about an hour later.

5:00am, wake up, shower, get ready to leave. Contractions are still steady at 7 minutes apart.

6:00am, leave house to go get a big breakfast (Kim said at our 41 week appointment to eat a big breakfast on Sunday because who knew when I would eat again that day). That is one thing about having your birth day scheduled. You can eat a nice meal before having the baby. You know when it is going to happen.

6:30am, pull into Bob Evans parking lot only to find out they are closed.

6:45am, pull into Perkins Restaurant. They are open. Eat breakfast. Other guests are like, so you are having a baby. Looks like you are about to have the baby. I respond, yeah, I'm in labor right now. Server seems a little nervous. But we assure her, we won't be having it at the restaurant. Police come in, we joke, if needed there are our escorts to the hospital.

It is weird to think that I was in labor at a restaurant, eating breakfast. I'll always remember that.

7:30am arrive at hospital. Go to room. Meet nurse, day nurse was Diane. She hooked me up to a monitor and checked mine and baby's vitals.

At some point midwife Kim came in. Checks if I am dilated. I am, 2 centimeters and I am 100% effaced. Yes, I started naturally. Now do I need pitocin?....

Checks on baby's heart rate. It is low. Puts me on oxygen. I am stuck lying in the bed. I don't want to lie in the bed, I want to walk around, keep labor going. In our birth class we learned that lying in your back was not the best way to go through labor.

Checks baby's heart rate again. It is not responding how it should be to my contractions. This worries Kim. For some reason the baby is going into distress. She says, the placenta is breaking down, baby cannot stay inside. It needs to come out in the next 24 hours. She wants to break my water to check on what could be wrong.

10:30ish, Kim breaks my water. There is meconim (baby had a bowel movement in the uterus) in it. This is what was causing the baby to be in distress. Shortly after my water being broken, the contractions pick up and get harder to handle. I am still stuck lying in the bed with an oxygen on my face. And an internal monitor is put inside on the baby's head. Not fun in this bed. Not enjoying labor so much anymore. Diane, Mike and Kim are very supportive and try to help me get through the contractions.

Shortly after 12 noon, the nurse says that I will be getting pitocin. Mike and I ask why (since Kim broke my water and I am having steady contractions) do I still need pitocin. I don't know if I want pitocin. Nurse says she will go to check if I actually need it. She comes back and says this, you don't need to take it but if you do, it will make things go faster. I think go faster, hmm, that sounds good to me. Because I didn't want to be in this pain any longer than necessary. I decide to get pitocin.

Not a good decision..now I have no rest in between contractions. I'm not enjoying this anymore and want it all to stop. I tell Mike to make it stop.

Kim then allows me to not have the oxygen mask on, removes the internal monitor, and I am able to sit in a chair and use the birth ball. I try that and leaning onto the bed. It helps some. But I am starting to rethink this whole no pain meds/epidural thing. Kim, Diane, and Mike are all aware that I want to try to go without pain meds or an epidural so all try to talk me out of it and keep me focused on getting through the contractions without it.

Kim periodically checks how I am doing. I believe at one point I was 4 centimeters. Around 2:30pm or so, I am tired and give up on not getting an epidural. I ask for one. Mike tries hard to talk me out of it. I then demand one. Kim suggests I try the jacuzzi. So I get in and it does feel better. But by that time, the anestesiologist has been called to come administer my epidural. I am in the jacuzzi about an hour. When I get out, Kim checks my progress again, I am 6 centimeters. Are you sure, they all ask. Yes, I answer. By this time, we have a new nurse too (cannot remember her name).

3:30pm, I get my epidural. Pain goes away but I still feel some in my left leg. So I get a little more. Pain completely goes away. Mike watches the monitor that measures my contractions. He said they are getting close to 100 (I was in pain when they were only in the 50s and 60s). We both take naps for about an hour.

I am checked again and it is announced, I am fully dilated.

We get another nurse, Kimberly. A lot is explained to me. When you feel like you need to push (it will feel like you need to have a bowel movement, is how it is described to me), hit the button and we will all come in. Kimberly also explains that when the baby comes out, he/she will be wisked away to be checked on so no meconium is breathed into his/her lungs. If that were to happen, it would not be good. So, she says, we do not want the baby to cry right away. There will be a lot of people in the room to take care of the baby after he/she comes out.

Finally, Mike and I have a chance to discuss boy names (we had a girl's name decided but not a boy's name). I want to use Mike's name as the baby's middle name. We decide on Gabriel Michael if the baby is a boy.

8:30pm, okay I feel like I need to push. Kimberly comes in and tells me what to do and talks me through everything. We do practice pushes and then real pushes. Mike starts to see the head. I couldn't believe he was actually looking/watching it all happen. He excitingly tells me, wow Katie, I see the head. You can do it. Wow, I can't believe it. Wow. He is just amazed.

Maybe about 15 minutes before the baby comes out, Kim (midwife) comes in. She is there to catch the baby.

9:40pm, baby comes out. Kimberly announces the time. Baby is taken over to be checked on. No cry but we are reassured that is okay. Mike looks over. Then he looks at me and says, it is a boy. I laugh (because everyone we knew had already had a boy so why be different, let's have one too :) ). Then one of the nurses says, "it's a girl." I cry, Mike cries, the baby cries. Kim asks what her name is, Mike and I say "Clara Grace." Everyone says welcome Clara Grace.

She is brought over to me and I hold her. I am in awe. She is quiet, half awake, half asleep. She is beautiful.

So my entire labor was about 20 hours. Active labor about 11 hours (with 1 hour of pushing).

Clara Grace Biasi born at 9:40pm on Sunday, March 1, 2009. 19.5 inches long. 7lbs 1oz. Head 13.5 (shut I'd have to look this up) is it inches or centimeters for head? I think inches.

And Mike and I are now parents. And have not had a good night's sleep since, hahahaha :) .

11 months! 28 days to go...

Clara turned 11 months old on February 1, 2010

Below are some outtakes from our 11 month photoshoot.


How old does this paper say I am?


won't stop moving....


Look here to see my age :) .



I want to hold my own sign.

Okay and the two that made the cut:

Happy Birthday!

Cuteness!

Top photo is of Clara looking up at Daddy. Spending another day with him. School was closed for three days in a row due to the snow.


Sleeping with all her friends. She loves to cuddle.



And these yellow and orange rings are her weights (for working out). She is building up her muscles while she crawls. She plans to start up a class for infants at our local gym (yes, my child will start earning money early in life :) ). KIDDING! But seriously, she crawls around the whole house holding this rings the entire time. It really does look like she is using weights.