ajmatt blog

A month is a long time when you’re learning something new every day. A statement that applies to Mommy, Daddy, and baby.

Aside from finding mirrors, here are a few more highlights from the last month. There is much more (with captions!) in our June photo gallery. We’ll be starting a July gallery soon.

We learned the sling is a wondrous invention. As is the Baby Bjorn, but I don’t have any photos of that yet.

Eva’s still working on finding her hands and feet, but she has a great time trying. Hokey pokey anyone?

Eva likes to hold her head up any time… expect tummy time. She likes sleeping on her stomach, so she passes out during “official” tummy time.

The aftermath of our first video call with Grandma and Grandpa.

And most importantly… smiles!

Who is bigger – Eva or the present?

Studies show that grandparents improve your quality of life.

Matt’s parents have been cooking dinner for us - at either our house or theirs - since week one. There are some photos from dinners up in the gallery. I linked to this gallery in the last post, but there are some new pictures starting on the fourth row, including this shot of four generations of Hartleys:

My parents flew into town after Memorial Day, and my brother a few days later. They cooked, cleaned, weeded, and rocked, and I got a few extra hours of sleep. Pictures from that visit are up in a new gallery. I had a burst of energy and actually captioned a lot of the pictures, so humor my sleepiness and be sure to read them.

Due to popular demand, here are more photos of Eva settling in at home. So far, she has met one of her Uncles and her Aunt, and spent more time with her Grandpa and Grandma. She loved it, and can’t wait to spend some serious quality time with her other Uncle, her other Grandparents, and her (Great-Grandfather) Pop-Pop in the next two weeks!

A personal highlight for me is from her first bath at home Monday.

More to come soon!

Evangeline Louse Hartley was born on Wednesday, May 13, 2009 at 1:59 pm. Baby Eva was 8 pounds 1.6 ounces and 20 inches long. Everything went smoothly, and we all came home from the hospital on Friday.

Her first pictures are up in our photo gallery, including a short video taken a few minutes after Eva’s birth.

We are smitten.

Last November, Matt and I went to see Quantum of Solace with our friends Ben and Marissa. We saw our first preview for Star Trek, which Matt had already been talking about with great excitement.

When the release date flashed across the screen, Ben leaned over and said, “That comes out two days after your due date.” Matt responded by shaking his fists at the ceiling and saying, “Noooooo!”

Even though our due date moved up to four days prior to the release, baby girl decided to let us go to one more movie, and we caught an impromptu matinee this afternoon.

Though we’re grateful for the opportunity, I must note that life has already changed – we had to take aisle seats instead of that perfect center seat, and I was using my left arm for lumbar support by the end of the two hours. (Also – could someone have warned me about the opening scene?)

On the other hand, this is the first movie we’ve seen since November, so it’s not like our life is changing that much. Until baby girl starts requesting animated features, we might be seeing one movie a year instead of two.

Our review of Star Trek? I liked it, though I don’t know much about the original series, and Matt gave it 8 stars on IMDB.

We promise, one of these days we’ll post photos of our daughter. And believe me, that can’t come soon enough.

This morning I turned on my computer and my Outlook calendar said: “BABY! 7 Hours Overdue.”

Yes, baby Hartley is breaking family tradition by waiting out her due date. Or, at least, things would have to happen really fast for her to arrive today.

Luckily, the aforementioned heat wave has passed to lovely, rainy 60 degree spring days. And let me tell you, I am left with great sympathy for those with summer pregnancies. 90 degrees is not pleasant when you’re this close to giving birth!

While I am somewhat uncomfortable as I wait, I have nothing on my to-do list or calendar for the first time in… well, as long as I can remember.

What does that mean? It means I upgraded my laptop to Windows 7 over the weekend (no one mentioned that nesting extends to the computer, but I assure you it does), and I’ve been reading tons of fiction. It’s wonderful, and probably this last time I’ll have this much freedom for quite some time… like 25 years, I’m guessing.

I’m in an any-day-now paranoid state, so thought it would be good to take one last belly picture tonight, just in case. Matt is amused by my paranoia (manic nesting), so I got what I asked for and then some – there’s a new small photo gallery consisting just of me and my 39-weeks-pregnant belly in the nursery.

I also took a few final photos of the nursery last week, which are in our nursery photo album. We still have two Dr. Seuss prints to hang, but otherwise it’s finished. And I’m sure this is the nicest it will ever look.

So… are we ready? As ready as we’ll ever be.

The paint dried on the nursery walls this week and box after box of furniture arrived at our doorstep, which meant we spent the entire weekend putting nursery furniture together.

Or rather, Matt did the heavy lifting, got his first child-related injury (a run in with an exacto knife), and hopes never to see cardboard again. I handed out screws, held parts steady, and stood around trying to look useful. I also reorganized the pantry in a nesting frenzy – does that count?

We were pleased to get three pieces of furniture in this tiny bedroom. We have a few more necessities to buy and a full wardrobe of baby clothes to wash, but otherwise we’re just about ready. The gallery of nursery photos is updated on our photo website.

In the last few weeks, I evolved from looking sort of pregnant to really pregnant. When I meet new people, the reaction has changed from the terrified is-she-or-isn’t-she-pregnant belly glances, to asking without hesitation, “So, when are you due?”

I’ve been sticking close to home, but I did drag myself to the mall and grocery store this week, and am happy to report I’m getting excellent customer service. Sales people offer to hold my bags behind the counter while I shop, and yesterday someone took my shopping cart back to the store for me as his wife looked on with a nostalgic smile. Everyone smiles when they see my giant belly.

I’m not a fan of my own bump photos, but a few have met my approval, and are in this photo gallery. My mom took a bunch last weekend, and this is my favorite, just because Matt and I were acting so dorky.

Six weeks to go… and I’m not sure where the final two to four pounds of baby Hartley are going to fit.