What I've been doing in grad school...

...among other things.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

We had our first snow here in State College (or rather the first snow that we've been here for). It had been raining all day and toward the evening became heavy, wet snow. We ended up with about 2 inches on the ground, though most has melted now. We threw on our boots, bundled up Evelyn and got some photos of her first snow. She was not happy about it.

We also cut our Christmas tree the next day. Last year we had a 7ft tree that filled our living room, but after we rearranged the room, there wasn't enough space for a tree of that size, so we combed the rows of Christmas trees in search of the perfect 5ft tree.

We found one and Mike set about cutting it down. Which turned out to be a bit difficult because of the branches so low to the ground. He pivoted around and around the base with the hand saw before finally breaking it free of the stump and yelling TIMBER! Only to have it fall right on top of him! Don't worry, he was not hurt, but it made for some very funny pictures.

Evelyn slept through our Christmas tree hunt, but was awake for the decorating (though a bit grumpy). First we donned the star, then we dutifully checked the light strands before wrapping the tree and topping it off with some decorative ribbon. We plugged the lights in to admire our work, only to discover the star was not working. For those of you that don't use real trees, it is pretty sappy at the top and the design of the star makes it difficult to stay up (we used twist ties and eventually did some reconstructive surgery, cutting about 4in off the leader). So we took the star down, opened it and searched for the bulb at fault. Fortunately, we found it and had replacements.

And here's the final product. Evelyn put on a happy face just before bed and seemed to really enjoy her first tree! She even got the first present under the tree!

Meeting the Matriarch

At just 8 days old, Mike, Mom, Evelyn and I took a trip to Long Island to visit Gram. It was really important to us that Evelyn have a chance to meet her namesake and almost 99yo Great-Grandma. She was a big hit with the staff and even sported her little pumpkin suit the day before Halloween, though it was still a bit big on her. I think Gram was delighted to meet her, and we were so happy to have the opportunity to be able to get out and see her!

Special Delivery

I'm way behind on posting and many of you have already heard the labor and delivery story from either Mike or myself, but I'll put it out there for those of you who haven't heard the story yet.

Oct 20, 4:46am, 40 weeks and 4 days pregnant--After having woken up for the usual bathroom break and climbing back into bed, I felt a contraction. This wasn't uncommon, I had had irregular contractions and cramping for weeks after getting up in the middle of the night. But the second contraction that followed shortly after was more uncomfortable and I knew I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. I decided not to wake Mike and go have some breakfast to see if these contractions were the real deal.

After a bowl of Cheerios and a half hr of steady contractions, I decided to time them for another hr. They were 3-5mins apart and growing in intensity. At that point I decided to wake Mike up and let him know while I got ready for a shower. I didn't want to freak him out so I told him pretty nonchalantly that I was having contractions, it took him a second to take it in and then he promptly responded 'wait, shouldn't we be calling the Dr?' The info they give you says to call when your contractions are 3-5 mins apart, but I was paranoid about being stuck in the hospital for a long time and I had been coached up by my co-workers to wait until I couldn't stand because the pain was so bad. So I said I wanted to wait and took my shower. About the time I was climbing in, I was reaching the point where my contractions were too painful to stand up straight, but I was determined to be a model of good hygiene.

Forty minutes later, my contractions now 1.5-3 mins apart; so painful I could not speak, sit, stand, crouch, etc; and I was just getting out of the shower, gasping for Mike to call the midwife. I spoke to her and she said to head on over to labor and delivery, so we hustled to get out to the car (it was still a 40 min drive to the hospital). I called Dad and had just enough time to say 'we're going to the hospital, I can't talk anymore' and hang up. It was by far the most uncomfortable car ride Mike and I have ever experienced. Particularly when we came to a complete stop on part of the road that is one lane in each direction. Fortunately, it was just a bus turning left to pick up kids for school.

We arrived at the hospital at 8am and I couldn't make it 10ft before having to get down on all fours through a contraction in the parking lot. Thank goodness someone from the hospital saw and came with a wheelchair to get us up to L&D. I got changed, hooked up to the monitors and checked. To my surprise I was 9cm! Holy cow and thank God, because I wasn't sure how much longer I could hold out. Mike says the nurses started hustling about the room getting the delivery table set-up and getting orders in. My plan was to deliver naturally, without any medication. My midwife told us it was too late for anything anyway (especially because they did not offer epidurals) and I ended up not even getting an IV.

Labor was intense. Mike insists that my sense of humor actually improved during labor. I cracked jokes in between contractions about how labor was hard and that I now felt more sympathetic to my patients. I had been really worried I would be mean, apparently I'm funny. Who knew?

At 9:27 I felt like I needed to push, so we began. After just under an hr, at 10:24am, Evelyn Dorothy made her grand enterance into the world with a full head of hair and gave a forceful and wonderful cry. Life as we knew it changed forever.

Six Weeks

We had a wonderful visit with everyone at Thanksgiving and are looking forward to seeing you all again at Christmas. Thanks Jennifer for taking some great family photos! It is always so nice to see family and spend some quality time together. I only wish Evie was smiling in more of them, but here's one of Ella and Toby holding baby Evie!


6 weeks has brought many changes in Evelyn, she's been smiling quite a bit and I finally caught her smile on camera! It lights up her whole face. I can't believe she is already 6 weeks old, it sure has flown by. Life has certainly changed for all of us and we're adjusting to it relatively well. The doctor has said that she's growing well and right on track, her newborn acne is starting to clear up, she's had her first bottle, she has cradle cap--but hasn't lost ANY of that luxurious newborn hair, and we're now starting to try getting a sleep routine going. Easier said than done.

I'll be back to work Jan 12--12 weeks from delivery. Sabbath has been adjusting very well to having a baby around too. Despite her well known dislike for children, she's been wonderful with Evie and has not shown an ounce of aggression, though she's become annoyingly desperate for attention; jumping in our laps the second we sit down and meowing in a very bossy voice any time Evie cries.

It is really exciting seeing her little personality develop and I can't wait to see what kind of girl she's going to be. We'll keep you posted about what is happening in our neck of the woods!