...aaand it's over :(

Geez, I didn't do a very good job at blogging while I was on maternity leave, did I? A whopping three posts! How sad. These last few weeks have been a blur. A quick bulleted recap:

- Uncle Reggie (aka that crazy guy) and Auntie Manami finally came from Japan
- Camille attended her first wedding (Congrats Uncle Romar & Auntie Abby!)
- Camille went on her first roadtrip to the Grand Canyon (and now, consequently, doesn't really like her carseat)
- Japan experienced a series of interconnected natural disasters
- Grandpa Jun (my dad) went in for an angiogram and had angioplasty done
- Nate Dogg died (LBC represent fo life)
- Uncle Reggie and Auntie Manami went back to Japan

...and on Monday I go back to work (waaah!)

For those of you wondering, Reggie & Manami live in Sasebo, which is in the southern part of Japan, so they believe their area was likely not affected by the recent earthquakes and tsunami. Still, the flight they took today from LAX does land in Narita, (the main airport that services the Tokyo area), so I'm hoping it won't be too crazy for them to catch their next flight out to Fukuoka. Fingers crossed. I'm also hoping that by some miracle, the nuclear plant crisis will magically just fix itself or that some genius scientist will figure out how to avert impending catastrophe. Fingers and toes extra crossed for that.

As for sewing, I haven't done any in two weeks! I'm determined to finish her dress/tunic before it becomes a midriff.

In other news, I am a super sucker for infomercials and saw one today for the Baby Bullet. I am completely smitten, even though I know I can do all the same stuff with my blender. Do I need it? No. Do I totally want it? Oh fo sho.

So, I think this ends my blogging career as I go back to real work. With that, I leave you with a photo I took today of Camille helping to speed up Grandpa's recovery. Remember, you can always keep up with Camille photos on Eph's Flickr page.

ttfn!

Sewing and sleeping

It seems like sleep and sleep-related topics are the only things I write about, huh? Everyone told me sleep and poop were going to become primary subjects of discussion once Camille came, and I have to say, they were right. So, to balance out the sleep talk, I decided to dedicate today's post to some of my latest crafting pursuits!

Since the beginning of the year, I've been taking a sewing class at ABC Adult School. Because Camille's birthday is on Halloween, I feel (self-inflicted) pressure to create spectacular, homemade costumes for her for the rest of her life. Hopefully, I'll be well on my way after one trimester of sewing class! The class is awesome because it's a bunch of retirees who have all been taking the same class for years and then there's me and my buddy who is studying for the LSAT. In the class, we made a pillowcase (that I gifted to Cassie), a table runner, which I gave to my sister, and a binder cover (that I will never make again...took me two four-hour sessions to complete). For the past few sessions, I've been off-curriculum, working on projects from online tutorials. (Sidebar: I have so much respect for all the blogging crafters in the world who create these tutorials! I don't know what I would do without Prudent Baby, Sew Mama Sew, How About Orange, etc.) So far I've made a makeup bag (which included a zipper!), a changing pad cover and a (really terribly sewn) burpcloth (no pictures of that one for the obvious aforementioned reason.)

The binder cover that took way too long

My changing pad cover! (I'm super proud, can you tell?)

 This week, I boldly decided to work on a dress for Camille using the Abbey dress tutorial from Shwin & Shwin. I'm not sure what about my previous projects made me think I was ready to attempt a garment, but hey, you never know until you try. So, after one four-hour class, here is where it stands. Mind you, I also decided to go the overachiever route by making the version with piping, since I want to learn all these scary techniques while I have a teacher available to me, so all I finished today was the fabric cutting and bodice. Yay me. I'll update next week to show my progress (or not depending on how it all turns out).

See all that lovely piping work??

Meanwhile, back in the land of nod, for the last two nights, Camille has slept in this super warm pink bear suit that my mom gave her for Christmas. (I know there are all these warnings about overheating your baby, but 1) our house is cold and 2) she doesn't sleep well when she's not warm, so I think we're a-okay.) I'm telling you, this thing is magical. When she's wearing it, we just put her down in her crib, awake, and she puts herself to sleep within five minutes. On top of that, she has slept six hours straight while wearing it. In baby land, that's considered "sleeping through the night." We're pretty happy about it and I want to get another one so I don't have to wash it so much, but it's now end of February and all the stores are stocking spring clothes, so my search hasn't been very fruitful. So, if anyone has any leads on fuzzy bear suits, send them my way.

She put herself to sleep!

Observations

I'm not sure what this says about me, but here are two recently-drawn conclusions:

1. Vacuuming totally counts as a day's workout.
2. If in one day, both the baby and I have taken a bath/showered (respectively), it's a really good day.

In other news, our baby girl is super smiley and coo-ey these days! I love it. Here is a photo of her "talking" to her "balloons" as the grandparents call them. We owe a great debt to Auntie Ann for making such useful baby shower decorations that are now Camille's favorite thing in her room!

One other thing--no one ever told me that babies start out sounding like cats. Check out this video and fast forward to 00:00:55. It's kinda neat because I like cats, but I can see how it might freak other people out.

Today

Well, hello there, blogworld. It's Rachel! (I'm blogging--amazing!)

So much has already transpired with our little family, so today I've finally decided to document it. Well, not what has already happened, but from today moving forward, I hope to keep some semblance of a journal of Camille/mommy milestones. At least for the remainder of my maternity leave (waah).

Today is the first day I've successfully put Camille down for a nap. You see, with all her grandparents aka "caballos" as my mom likes to call them, she is always held or carried when she is cranky/sleepy and then falls asleep in someone's arms. I don't want her to get used to it, or I'll never get any nap time crafting (or much of anything) done while she's sleeping (even though I've managed okay with the sling up to this point). 

Taking the advice of Baby411 (great book!), I put her down as she was falling asleep. I also took the time to swaddle her first. Our crib is so tall for me though, so I had to super tippy toe so as to not make too much of an altitude change for her when she went from arms to crib, but I finally got it and I'm really proud of myself! (Can you tell??)

Here is a snap of said success. Yay me.

Update:

Five minutes after I took this photo and 30 minutes after she went down, she went all cry crazy, so I guess it was a half success. Oh well. I guess it's a "if at first you don't succeed, try try try again" situation.

Also, you might notice the little lambie doll next to her. I'm following the advice of dear friend (and awesome hair & makeup stylist) Nicole and am starting to give her a comfort object during every sleeping time (nap, nights). The hope is that soon the association is formed between the comfort object and sleep, so it becomes less of a process. That is the hope, at least.

Will keep you Camille fans updated with more goodness in the future!

Weeks 29-30: Calm Before the Storm

Yo yo yo Eph'n Rach fans - how are you?  I am fine.  Why was that the standard greeting in all my 5th grade love letters?  Not too suave.  Anyhoo - blog on! 

Latest Baby Stats
Fetal Heart Rate (FHR): 159 BPM
Cervical Length: 3cm - it seems that the cervix is starting to shorten which is typical later on in pregnancy.  This reading is a little shorter than last time, but the docs assure us that as long as it doesn't start funneling/effacing, it's ok.  

Third Trimester: The Home Stretch

WE DID IT!

Hot Mama

This post is going to be relatively short because the entitled milestone says it all.  After traversing the tears, the shots, the ups/downs/sideways ... after all the emotional and physical burdens that we've had to endure, I'm blessed to announce that we've officially made it through to the third trimester of pregnancy!  In fact, if Camille were born today, she would have a 90% chance of survival (though we are praying for her to go full term, 36/37 weeks, of course).  Though we're certainly not out of the woods yet, we are definitely on the home stretch to destination parenthood. 

Thank you all for your continued prayers, thoughts and words of encouragement.  You are a big part of making this all happen for us.  We're excited to share this last phase with you -- hope you stick around for the happy ending.  :0)

Weeks 23-24: Viability

Hello faithful Eph'n Rach fans!  Seems that there's been a little bit of confusion for some on my last post.  Please have faith that this was super unintentional on my part.  Mea Culpa.  Let me make it absolutely clear that Rachel is still gainfully pregnant and that our little Camille is still snug as a bug in a rug (and kicking the heck out of Mommy -- sorry I couldn't find anything that rhymed with 'ug' on that one).

There's heaps to catch you guys up on, so let's fire up the Maniago Babywatch 2010 blog machine!