a year later...

Yeah, we all knew I wouldn't be an avid blogger.  So it's not a shock that I haven't blogged in a year.  Instead of apologizing, I thought I would give some highlights from the past year, some new favorites of mine, and a few things I hope to accomplish in the coming year.

29-30 Highlights:
1.  Moved back to America.  Last January.  Wow.
2.  Two of our best friends got married... and I got to go!!!...
3.  Bought our first house.  I love it.  Except for now having to be responsible for a yard, a big yard.
4.  Elise turned 1.  I subsequently had to throw my first kids party.  The highlight was the 3 older boys entertaining themselves by throwing themselves against the mattress in the back room that I was wanting to hide from the rest of the party.  Oh well.
5.  John and I celebrated our 6th anniversary.  We ate at Theo's in Fayetteville and I had a basil gimlet, which I would marry if one could marry a cocktail.
6.  Went back to Lebanon for a week, all by myself!  must blog about later
7.  Celebrated my 30th birthday... i was stuck in atlanta overnight with De-wight from the real Housewives of Atlanta...this is also a must blog story at a later date

New Favorite things:
1.  Singer Esteem Sewing Machine
2.  Capri Blue Volcano candle
3.  Uggs I got in Beirut at my favorite store
4.  Kindle
5.  White Hovas and Ektorp couches from Ikea
6.  Kitchenaid artisan mixer
7.  cute apron I got for Christmas.
8.  Monogrammed white velvet stockings from Pottery Barn.


Things on the agenda for 2011:
When thinking about the things I wanted for 2011, i came up with so many things I need to do, have to do, want to do, etc.  However, I really wanted a FUN list, i.e. small ways I was going to have a good time this year.  These are just a few of those things.
1.  Cook my way through the Pioneer Woman cookbook.  I chose this one because of the funny stories, pretty pictures, and easy recipes.
2.  Read a book a month.  Not only ones that would be beneficial spiritually, but ones that make me laugh out loud.  So far my favorite has been The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.  LOVED it!!
3.  Sew an outfit for Elise.  She doesn't have to wear it, but I thought I would try to make up for the first C, (and one of the very few including Tai Chi at Baylor) I ever got in my life.  Junior High Home Economics...i made the worst pair of boxer shorts any one has ever seen.  They were navy with bears on them.  nuff said.
4.  Do Zumba 3 times a week.  I am addicted, so I think I will be able to keep this one.
5.  Travel out of America again...probably either Lebanon or France
6.  Keep my nails painted.  My mom taught me the value of having groomed nails.  I rebelled by biting them most of my life, but stopped when I moved to Lebanon.  This was mostly due to being grossed out by the things I was touching all the time and subsequently not wanting traces of those things in my mouth, and then the ugly looks I got from carefully groomed Lebanese women at my nasty stubby nails. I love, love having them done.
7.  Take an online course.  I love studying, and miss it so much.
8.  Go to Seattle or Boston to see Amy or Steph.  Seattle might win because I have already been to Boston.  sorry.


Alright, there we are.  Hopefully we will see each other more often.

jls

29

Wow.  How in the world did I get to be this old?  I am thankful, don't get me wrong, but I mean I never thought my 20's would end.  I think 30's are gonna be better in soooo many ways...family life, more stability, etc, but there is just something about being in your twenties that is so fun.  It is a decade crammed full of spontaneity, randomness, growing, stretching and learning.  Here are my top 10 things I have done so far in my twenties, some with the approximate age I was at the time:

1.  Married the most amazing person and my very best friend, and we have been attached at the hip every single day since (23, almost 24).
2.  Had the most beautiful baby girl who I adore (28)
3.  Moved to Beirut (26)
4.  Graduated from Baylor (22)
5.  Learned/ am still learning Arabic (26 to the present)
6.  Ran 2 full marathons (Austin (25) and Beirut (27) ) and 3 half marathons (Austin (25), Berlin (27), and Beirut (27, almost 28) )
7.  Lived with some of the most amazing people in the world with whom I have countless stories of ridiculousness: Brook, Rebecca, Megan, Sara, Ashley, Steph, Jordan, Dawn, Amy, John, and now Elise :) )
8.  Had tons of random jobs, all with purpose and learning experience:  Elite Cafe, Gratziano's, Diamond Backs, Victoria's Secret, Common Grounds, The Olive Branch, Antioch Community Church, CDK, Inma, Mom :)
9.  lived through many war-like scenarios
10.  Outside of moving overseas, I have also traveled to Morocco, Germany, Sudan, Dubai, Syria, France, and most recently Thailand.  All amazing.

still have one more year to close out this decade.  I will say I have tried to make the most of this season of life.  This is one piece of advice I would give to anyone entering your twenties...make the most of it.  Run hard and run fast.  You may never have this much energy again.  Love God, love people, and learn what that means for your life.  He has a plan for you and he loves watching you figure it out as he unfolds it bit by bit.  Let him build a solid foundation in you these years that will last you a lifetime.

enough thinking for now, gotta go get the baby :)

Paci Wars

Oh, the pacifier.  How we love it and hate it.  Elise was doing pretty well for a while taking the pacifier and  falling asleep with it, but quickly spitting it out.  It wouldn't wake her up, but she would stay asleep just making cute little sucking noises and staying asleep.  Now, however, it is like her worst nightmare.  Everytime i put it in her mouth, she acts like I am torturing her.  Mercy.  She is getting too old and too big for us to walk her around and rock her to sleep, and now that she can consistently sleep 8 hours at a time, she needs to learn to soothe herself to sleep.  However, I am stumped at how to help her do this if she won't take the pacifier.  I don't want to get her addicted to the paci, but I also don't want her to scream for an hour everytime I put her down for a nap or for bedtime.  One little trick I use sometimes is to put her Vitamin D drops on the end to keep her sucking on it for a while, at least long enough to fall asleep.  She loves the drops, probably because they taste like sugar syrup.  All you moms out there, any more ideas??

2 months

just a few shots of our girl i thought you might enjoy. She's got her daddy's eyes for sure.

Playing Catch up

A few highlights from the past few weeks, which would have been individual entries if i would have had the time/ coherence to write :):

week 5

Elise started stretching her nighttime sleep

to about 5 ho

urs a time. What a blessing. John was able to stop feeding her at 1 am, but still continued to help me if she got up too many times at night. So thankful. At her one month appointment she already is up to 5.6 kilos, or 12.3 pounds. The nurse look at me and said, "She's much fatter!" and she is indeed. But still not as chubby as the numbers say, j

ust long and lean :) I just love this little one so much

week 6

Finishing up Cataract Surgery preparations and getting ready for Thailand.

This week we had so much to do, and were such busy bees. The idea of traveling to another country with my precious girl seems kind of scary to me, but I am thankful to have Rachel and Emily, sweet friends and experienced moms to travel with. It is so hard to know what to pack for a newborn in a totally new place, but I decided on her snap n go stroller, her pea pod tent, and her baby bijorn as all the gear I need. That should defini

tely be enough, right? Oh, and about 50 diapers and 50+ sunscreen:)

week 7

Thailand!

What an awesome week! Elise and I joined up with women from our organization who live all over the world

for a week long

retreat/ conference in Ko Samui, Thailand at the Centara Resort. We had an amazing time soaking in His presence, listening to good and encouraging teaching from some very admirable women, and connecting with old and dear friends. One of my best friends, Amy, was our roomie for the week. I had not seen her for almost 2 years, which is a ridiculously lo

ng time for us, so it was such a blessing to be with her and for her to get to sp

end time with Elise, and process how mothering is going thus far and what all she has to look forward to.

It was crazy hot and humid there, and I was a little nervous about Elise getting too much sun, so it took us a while to venture out to the pool and beach. Amy and I decided to

spend our morning off having an early breakfast and then going with Elise to the beach before it got too hot. So, at about 7:30 am, we were on the beach,

and we lasted about 15 minutes before going back to the breakfast buffet :) We did, however, lounge around the nice and shady pool area for most of the day, which was amazing, and got to chit chat with all the ladies soaking up the rays.

The people in Thailand were so loving, humble, and gentle people. They loved Elise! Every where we went, people were making googly faces at her. Even the ladies at the security check in

the Bangkok airport asked if they could feed her a bottle while I went through. So sweet!

week 8

Cataract surgery project and my best friend, Mr. Jet Lag:

We got home Saturday night at 8pm, and I had to be at the ho

spital at 8:30 Sunday morning. YIKES! I was so jetlagged, and so was Elise. John watched her in the mornings while I was at the hospital and I was so bless

ed. I would leave him a bottle and then come home about 1 to feed her, head back to the hospital, and then wrap u

p the day around 3. At that point we were so exhausted that Elise and I would crash about 6 or 7 pm. The project was a success and i was so thankful to be a part

for the 5th time. One really cool thing was the surgeon put a camera into his microscope that projected the surgery up close on a tv screen. We all sat outside the O.R. and watched each surgery being done up close. I ha

ve now seen it done so many times, I feel like I could do it myself...well, maybe not.

It took us the rest of the week to get over jet lag, but by the end Elise was back to sleeping 6 hours straight at night. Praise God!

We also went for my final visit with my OB Gyn. I love this sweet lady and wish so badly she could deliver all my kids.

week 9

Pinched nerves, turkey times two, 5 years of happiness, and a full night of sleep:

I started this week with some really rough sciatic nerve pain in my back. It was so severe that I couldn't walk and carry Elise at the same time. I literall

y was bent over at a 90 degree angle for about 4 days straight. John was such a great helper and I don't know what I would h

ave done without him. On Tuesday, I felt about 80% better, and by Thursday I was 100%.

Praise God! I was also in charge of making the turkey for Thanksgiving, and this year we had so many people that I had to make 2! Wednesday morning, Elise and I got up at 5, and I put her in her swing in the kitchen and we started cooking. She was such a good helper :). We had one turkey done by 10 am, carved it up, and used the bones and drippings from the pan to make gravy. Yum, Yum! We finished with the second about 9 that

evening. I just couldn't be bothered to make anything the morning of, so i decided it was better to reheat than to exhaust myself. Indeed it was.

Thanksgiving was awesome! We had 16 adults, 6 kids, and 4 babies at our team's place in Aley, and we had such a great time. We read through the history of Thanksgiving before lunch, and then after lunch watched a video of the Texans v Titans game from Monday night. It felt like a very traditional Thanksgiving, and we were crazy stuffed!

Also, Elise slept for 8 hours straight for the first time! YAY! It was freezing up in the mountains, so I bundled her up in a little snow suit and put her to bed. She didn't cry or even wimper, just went straight to bed at 9 and then woke up

at 5. what the what?!? SO awesome! I, on the other hand, couldn't sleep for some reason, so I just laid there awake waiting for her to wake up, and she never did! Hopefully we can coordinate our 8 hours of sleep next time, but for now I am one proud mama!

Today is our 5 year anniversary. Wow, time has gone by so crazy fast. On one hand, I don't remember life before John, on the other hand I feel like we are still newlyweds. We have cultivated such a deep foundation over these first few years and they feel so precious to me. I would never trade them for anything. In one word, they have been adventurous. Here's to many more adventures, Babe! Love you!

Granny and Aunt Sissy

We had such an amazing time last week with my mom and sister. It was so fun to have them in our little world. We don't get a lot of visitors, and having family around is such a blessing. Here are a few highlights from their visit:

1. Clothes, clothes, clothes: You may know that all of Elise's clothes were stolen. We had packed a big bag of stuff this summer for my mom and sis to bring over, and while my sister was working in Austin, she went to SA to pick it up so my mom wouldn't have to be charged extra for baggage on her flight from SA to Houston. Well, while she was in Austin, someone bashed in 3 of her windows and stole the bag, which was covered up, out of the back of her car. Terrible. Well, I ordered a few things online, and mom and jess shopped a ton, and now she has more clothes than she can wear. We feel really blessed, and she is no longer squeezing into her newborn onesies anymore.

2. Touring the Country: While we didn't get to see everything, we did make it to a few of our favorite spots. We went to the Maasser Cedars, the Kefraya Vineyards, Eddie Sands and Byblos, and ate at some of our favorite restaurants including El Molino, Bread Republic, Al Balad, and had atomic fondant at La Rouge. Because I had pretty bad morning sickness throughout my pregnancy, it had been a long time since I could eat at my favorite places and actually enjoy it. Food never tasted so good!!

3. Work, work, work...well, only a little :). I got to show Mom and Jess where I work and they met all the great people I see everyday. We had a traditional Lebanese breakfast together, complete with my favorite, Makdous (stuffed marinated eggplant), and I gave Jess a quick tour of the camp. Mom had her first Nescafe a la Huda, and she loved it.

Here are a couple of pics from our time together. Miss you guys!!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=155495&id=678013697&ref=nf

Working Girl.

Today was the 2nd time I took Elise with me to the office where I volunteer. Our first visit was Thursday, but today we did some real work. She did so well. As soon as I walked in the door, the girls whisked her away and i didn't see her again for about half an hour. Pretty fun.

She slept most of the time in her car seat while I sorted through supplies for our upcoming cataract surgery project. She learned about stab knives, MVR blades, hynidase, IOL implants, etc. Maybe one day she'll want to be an eye surgeon due to my early indoctrinating. Only time will tell.

I also got to introduce her to some of the preschool teachers from a school we sponsor, and they were so excited to meet her. One cultural funny thing is that if your daughter doesn't have earrings, even if she is 2 weeks old and dressed in pink, they think she is a boy. I can't tell you how many times I have had to explain that she is a girl and why I haven't put earrings in her ears yet. The teachers were very confused. The idea of putting earrings in her ears makes me cringe. When I was in Kindergarten, my Dad tried to pierce my ears. I freaked out and we only got one done. Thus, I wore one earring, usually a red and gold heart, for about a year. How could I do that to her?? Plus, I think her little ear lobes are too cute. I kind of hope she never has earrings. :)

We are going back to work on Thursday for another round of Nescafe, Labneh sandwiches, Chai, coffee, and some inventory. Don't worry, she won't have all the caffeine.

Daddy's Girl.

She loves her Daddy. She's in good company :). John has been so great since Elise was born. He has been a champ at taking some of the night shifts so that I could get a few hours of sleep in a row. She has also been great about taking an occasional bottle, with no "confusion", so I am grateful. I love watching him hold and play with her. Last night, after I fed her, I asked him if he would go change her diaper. About 30 minutes later, I got a little worried and went to see what was going on. I found them in our room, she was in a totally different outfit, and he was getting her to make funny faces. So cute! Apparently she had had an accident while he was changing her, which led to the new pajamas. He didn't ask for help at all, just cleaned her all up and decided to spend some one on one time with her. What a great Dad!

A couple milestones.

We went for our first doctor's visit today, and our little one has not only returned to her birth weight, but has gained about 100 grams! Now she is about 9 1/4 pounds, or 4.2 kilos. Way to go! I have been nervous about her weight, not totally sure why, but I was pumped to know that we are on track, feeding is going well, and she is doing awesome.

The past few days she has been taking a bunch of naps in her pack n play, and even sleeping in it most of the night. YAY! Nothing makes me feel better than putting her down and her actually falling asleep. I do, however, sneak a few cuddles during her nighttime feedings. I can't help it. I guess I am just used to feeling her kick me at night :) Last night, she kept making these snorting, rooting sounds like a little pig. It woke me up, I laughed, and then I fed her. This morning, I asked John how he slept last night and he said he had a hard time staying asleep because she was being so loud. hah!

A Baby Story

I used to love this show in college. I remember going and getting Schlotzky's with my roommate Brooke and watching it on TLC in the afternoon. I am kind of fascinated with all things medical. I know, I know, its not a medical procedure but a natural process (to all those who are pro- natural birthing). I, however, have always liked the hospital. This is why I was surprised to find myself leaning towards going a more natural route with this birth. I had no reason to prove to myself how tough I could be, or any desire to be put in unnecessary pain, but I really spent so much time exploring both sides and the pros and cons of each. Little did I know I would get to experience both in a way.

There are so many factors that go into giving birth in another country, in another language. You definitely have to pick your battles here, so I needed to know which things I wanted to fight for and which things I needed to let go of. For example, do I spend tons of time and energy in rejecting pain medication or arguing the levels of pitocin being administered, or fighting the bottle and sugar water they would inevitably give her in the nursery, or the position I would lay in as I labored, or when to start pushing, or making sure they immediately gave her to me as soon as she was born to try to nurse...the list goes on and on. The most important thing to me was walking in peace from God through out the process so that I could make the best decisions and be able to respond well. I decided about a week before that whatever was going to happen during the birth process, God was going to be with me, and that was enough.

Back up a bit...

Like I had said before, I had been having a lot of Braxton-Hicks contractions from about 25 weeks on, and literally every 5-10 minutes for the last 3 weeks of my pregnancy. It was extremely exhausting and made everything difficult, especially sleeping. In fact, I feel more rested now with a newborn than I did during those few weeks. My doctor, who I absolutely LOVE and wish I could go to her always, told me at about 36 weeks that she thought I would go into labor easily and naturally because of the progress I had made and because of all of my contractions. Well, 3 weeks later and little progress, she was feeling a little wary that I would deliver on time and was nervous for me to go later because of the baby's size. I was pretty nervous too! On my last appointment, the Thursday before i had Elise, she was giving me an ultrasound to estimate the baby's size and noticed I was having really strong contractions the whole time. She looked at me and said, "Ah! You're contracting right now. You look so tired. Are you ready to deliver?" and I let out a pathetic, "yes." with a sigh. She looked at me knowingly and said, "Tayib, Khallas, we will set an induction date for you for next Wednesday, the 23rd. But I think you might deliver before the Eid (which began the 20th)." I was so grateful, I almost started crying.

(FYI, if you want to know what I vaguely refer to as progress, like all the pre-labor signs, email me and i will tell you. It might be to much to share in a post ;) )

So, that night I went for my last labor inducing power walk at the AUB track on the med. It is so wonderful to go there and watch the sunset on the water. I walked and walked and thought to myself, "the next time i come here, maybe I will be pushing her in a stroller!"

We had been wondering what to do for John's birthday for sometime. I felt like such a horrible wife because I was so caught up in having the baby, that I wasn't spending as much time thinking about it as I should have. That morning i had been having contractions as usual, but we decided to try out this new mexican restaurant on the coast in the Tabarja bay north of Jounieh, and decided it was worth it even if we needed to return immediately and to go to the hospital. We had a really great time, ate some yummy food, took some last prego pics, and then headed back, still having contractions every 4 minutes or so, and we even felt fine about stopping at Marble Slab for sweet cream and strawberries.

Contractions continued until 8:30 that night, when I decided we needed to go to the hospital and at least be monitored. Once we got there and were all hooked up, the doctors couldn't believe how strong my contractions were. They kept saying in disbelief, "You aren't in any pain??" and I would respond, "i feel them and they are strong, but it doesn't hurt." They just didn't believe me...pretty funny. My doctor came in around 10:30 to check things out, all dressed up in her new Eid clothes, just coming from a family event. She said that she wanted to go ahead and start the Pitocin to help me progress since I hadn't made much progress from my last appointment, and since I was only a couple of days from a Pitocin induction, she thought it would be better to augment a labor than induce from nothing. I decided it was fine.

John ran home to get some supplies. She left and would return only once, around 1:30 am, to break my water. From then on, i was in the care of a young resident guy who didn't seem to have too much experience. Yikes. After they started me on pitocin, they upped it every 15 minutes until I was on the maximum dose possible. Because I wasn't showing outward signs of pain, like screaming uncontrollably, they seemed to think I wasn't really feeling them. Meanwhile, my contractions are going off the monitor. My doctor told them to lower my pitocin, and they did. When she came back to break my water, she said, "Now I am sure you will want pain medication after this. If you feel you can endure it without an epidural, by all means do, but if you are too tired and need a rest, consider it so you can get some sleep." What a great thing to say! She made me feel so peaceful and confident, and I was really blessed. She also told me of her own experiences with an epidural and 2 out of 3 times it didn't work for her. I really appreciated her care and her candor.

Well, immediately after she left, they put my pitocin on the highest dose and left it there the rest of the time. Jr. resident man was just trying to get my contractions to be 2 minutes apart, even though they were fine on the lower dose. After hours of that nonsense, I decided i did need to rest if I was gonna make it through the night. I asked for the epidural, and they had to wake the anesthesiologist out of a dead sleep to come give it to me. She literally had pillow marks on her face. Not exactly the appearance you hope for when someone is about to dig in your spine. It took her an hour to administer it, and as soon as it began to take effect, I knew something was wrong. My whole left leg immediately started to feel numb, but my right side still had complete feeling. I told her right then that it wasn't working. She made me shift around, lie on my right side, do all sorts of random things, but the bottom line was that she had placed it incorrectly. Wow, talk about a let down. Now I was realizing that I was going to have to do this on maximum pitocin, zero sleep, and with a numb thigh and tongue. I was also shaking all over. Awesome. I begged him to turn the pitocin down, but he would not.

I started doing the only thing I knew to do. I knew I was transitioning, and it was going to be intense, so I got my iPod, started listening to intense worship music mixed with calming worship music, breathed through my contractions, focusing and praying, and then relaxed every part of my body as soon as they were over, trying to soak all I could from that minute of rest. It was really hard, but God was good. There was also this intense thunderstorm going on outside and we could watch the lightening over the ocean from my window. Just a really amazing moment.

At about 6:00, I felt like I really needed to start pushing. I called the doctors in to tell them i needed to push, but they said I was still only at a 6 or 7 and that I had hours left. I immediately felt so defeated. Could I really go on much longer? Maybe I should just have a C-section and get it over with? I sat there for a second, calmed myself down, and decided that I was going to try light pushing, or sort of "breathing the baby down" as the call it in the bradley method. Mostly just focusing on your breathing and moving the baby downward. After a few more contractions, I buzzed them again. They said I was at an 8, and I would still be pushing for hours. I said I didn't care but that I needed to push. They brought a doctor in to help me, thinking it would be forever. He tried to get me to lay flat on my back, but I told him no, raised the back of my bed almost 90 degrees, held on to my own legs, and began pushing on my own.

After 2 contractions they could see the head, and realized I wasn't kidding around. They frantically called my doctor, made me stop pushing (which is the worst feeling ever), and got me into the delivery room as fast as possible. My doctor came in, and I could tell she wasn't very informed about how it had been for me. She had no idea the epidural didn't work, so I had to tell her so that she wouldn't think I was totally numb all over. I pushed once, and then she said to me, "Jamie, with this next push you are going to deliver your baby, okay?". "Okay!" I shouted back, and that was that. John was standing next to me and for some reason I reached up and grabbed his hand and pushed and then heard the loudest scream/ the most beautiful sound ever. The 2 male doctors (jr. resident and pushing man) kept yelling, "Big Baby! Big Baby!" Right about then, a nurse came up, and jammed a shot of pitocin into my right thigh to help deliver the placenta. This would have been the only time having a numb thigh would have helped, but she picked the wrong thigh, and thinking I had an epidural wasn't gentle in the least.

After that, they handed her to me, and it was like the whole world stood still for a few moments. She was here and I was over the moon. Nothing else really mattered.

Recovery has been good and challenging. We have spent the last week and a half getting used to each other and learning about life as a family. We take little outings every day and are easing ourselves into a routine. She is such a joy to have with us and we love her tons.

Introductions

Well, it has been an amazing journey thus far, and I am so
thankful and hopeful for the future with this precious

gift from God. That sounds like a closing statement instead of an opening one, but I am hoping for this blog to be one of reflection as well as a daily recounting of little miracles as we walk with Elise. We are so incredibly thrilled to be her parents.

It has been 10 days since we have been able to hold her and have her here with us. Here are a few headlines and highlights from the first 10 days:

1. 1st time holding her...was so amazing! Nothing can prepare you for that. When they handed her to me, all purple and screaming, all I could say was, "She's so cute!" and "She's here!" The 2 resident doctors kept saying, "Big baby, big baby!" and the nurses in response to that kept saying, "Smalla, smalla," and "m'ash'alla." I was in heaven, holding on to her long skinny fingers and I thought to myself, "She looks exactly like I thought she would."

2. 2 hospital beds... We didn't want to upgrade to first class from our insurance, so instead we were blessed with a room for 2 with the option that there may be another person in there with me. It was a slow few nights because it was during the Eid Al Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan, and on a weekend, so that meant that John had a bed in our room too! What is hysterical is that he went to the apartment and pulled the sheets off of the guest bed and made himself right at home. In the morning, the nurses had to come into our room quite a bit to take my temperature, talk to me about the baby, bring the baby to me, etc. They all kept saying, "Sorry to disturb your husband," as he snoozed away.

3. 3rd time's the charm...This was the 3rd time I had gone to the hospital and had my contractions monitored, and the last :). I had been having pretty serious pre-labor contractions for weeks and weeks, and my doctor was always shocked that I hadn't progressed very much. The first time I was monitored was because I had a terrible case of food poisoning around 37 weeks. The second time was a week before I gave birth and we went because I had been having very regular contractions for about a week, but specifically intense that day. This last time, we were on our way to have John's birthday lunch, and they were really strong. We didn't go to the hospital until 8:30 that night, and they decided to put me out of my pre-labor misery :)

4. 4 days without ANY sleep...from laboring during the night, staying up with her in the hospital, and the first 2 days and nights home, I had zero hours of sleep. John was a champ and took the night shift the next few nights after that. What a huge blessing!!

5. 5 pushes...maybe that is TMI, but it felt like a big accomplishment to me. I had always heard that this can be the longest part of labor, but it was the shortest for me, thank God!

6. 6 Tacos Al Pastor... John and I split these at his 33rd birthday lunch, and they were wonderful. They say that spicy food can send you into labor, and maybe it helped some, but it was so great to get a little mexican food fix before the long night ahead. We also stopped by the mall on our way back into town and got some Marble Slab. You would think we were in Texas. :) Elise was born just 3 hours after John was, but her birthday is one day later since Beirut time is 8 hrs ahead of CST.

7. 7:00 weepies...for some reason, mostly due to hormone craziness I am sure, I have cried almost everyday at 7:00. Today John looked at me at 8ish and said, "You didn't cry!"

8. 8 different ways of putting her to sleep...Swing, bouncy seat, baby bijorn, John "walking her", cuddling her in bed, whispering "shhhhhh" over and over, car seat, pack n play. These are our main methods so far, and we try each and every one every single day. We have decided that our parenting style at this point looks more like trouble shooting than anything else, but we are learning more and more every day about what is best for our little world changer.

9. 9 lbs...or 4090 grams, which is what was written on her card for nursery bed/cart/3arabayye. Whatever you want to call it. It also says her name is "BB Snider,"

kinda cute. I was really shocked when I heard how big she was. I was preparing for her to be about 8 pounds, but couldn't believe she weighed that much. However, she is just long and skinny with no baby fat rolls or anything. 9 lbs, 21 inches , born on 9/21. She looks like a little mini to me. A little mini BB.

10. 10 hours of labor...really not too bad for my first.

So, that's that. Stay tuned.