One Week

Today Samantha is one week old. What a week it's been.

I had to get a picture of Emerson with Pooh Beah. This is what he does whenever he needs comfort or is tired. He strokes Beah's nose and sucks his thumb. I had to document it because I know he won't do it forever. He has seemed huge to me lately. My friend Jessica said it best when she told me I would feel like I was changing a teenager's diaper. She was right.
E has pretty much ignored Sammi, but each day he's acknowledged her a little more. He asked to hold her, so we let him. It lasted about 30 seconds, but at least he wasn't being mean. We had her sitting in her bouncer the other day and he wanted to help bounce her. So I told him to be really gentle, and he was. Then, all on his own he decided it would be a good idea to sing to her. So this is what he sang: (It's really more of a chant, but he calls it a song.)

Peanut sitting on a railroad track
Its heart was all a-flutter.
Around came the train
Choo-choo!
Peanut butter!

The best part was that he said "peanut butter" very softly. My mom and I were laughing pretty hard because that's really a pretty scary song for Samantha, whom we call peanut occasionally. But thank you Emerson for your cryptic little chant. We know you meant well.

I have had a grand time dressing up my little fashionista. I even painted her toenails. It was hard to do because they're pretty much nonexistent.

I love babies in their jammies. :)

This outfit made us giggle. The mini khaki skirt was from Aunt Nat, and we thought it was so teeny when we bought it, but it slipped right off Sammi when we lifted her up. It was finished off nicely with the red toenails though. :)

Little sweetie. This is how she likes to sleep: with one fist up by her cheek and the other across her body.

She had a little spongebath today and was smelling so fresh.

This is how she spends her days: Looking cute, pooping, and eating. No wonder she's so tired all the time. It's hard work.

Home From the Hospital

So it's obligatory that I recount my birthing story here, but first I'll just throw in some pictures with a few captions and then you don't have to read everything. :)

We had some visitors in the hospital, but I only got a picture of these two cute girls with Emerson. They had quite the time when Ben got them all wound up, and they seemed pretty excited to hold the baby.

Here are me and Sammi getting all ready to go home. The nurses loved her outfit with all her accessories.

So tiny in her huge camouflage carseat!

Big Brother Emerson and Grandma J made us this cute sign. It was perfect for Bebe Sister because E loves to color with pink.

Having a Sunday nap on Daddy

July 23, 2010 Induction day: I got up and ready to be at Riverside hospital with Ben at 7:00 a.m. I was so nervous the night before, but felt much better after Ben gave me a blessing, and felt calm for the most part during the whole process. It was so nice to have Grandma J at our house so we could leave Emerson

The nurses called us back and got us all settled in with the lovely hospital gown and an IV in my arm. I think the IV is the worst part. I almost passed out with both of my deliveries at that part, but for some reason nothing else really bothers me too much. So then we settled in to wait. We read our books and chatted and napped until I started having quite a bit of discomfort and was dilated enough that they would let me have my epidural. (Insert praises sung of epidurals here.) The anesthesiologist was the nicest guy and did a great job. My nurse was awesome as well. She was great at talking me through everything and helping me relax through the uncomfortable parts.

After I got my epidural, things went much faster than with Emerson. We were to the pushing part before I knew it, and I had to hold back until the doctor got there. I did 3 rounds of pushing (and I felt quite a bit..yikes), and our precious little girl was born at 3:52 p.m. She was a little stinker and held her breath for a long time, but her Apgar scores were 8 and 9, so she was good. She weighed 6 lbs. 12 oz. and was 19 inches long. After her initial fury at being born, she just laid there and looked around while sucking on her fingers. I finally got to hold her after the doctor was finished stitching me up and I fell in love with her instantly. I think Ben was pretty smitten as well.

We spent the next two days in the hospital and I recovered so much faster than with Emerson. I think my body wasn't quite as in shock as it was with him. It was so nice to just relax in the hospital and hold my sweet little girl and get to know her. I missed Emerson a lot though and was so happy to see him when he came the first night to meet bebe sister. Ben was able to stay at the hospital with me both nights thanks to Grandma J taking such good care of Emerson. They came to visit on Saturday again, and Ben switched off with Grandma so that she could hang out with me and Sammi at the hospital and he and E got to do manly things at home. Then we all had Caffe Da Vinci takeout at the hospital together. (It was unreal how bad Riverside's food is. Yuck.)

Sunday afternoon we came home and I didn't quite feel ready to go home and be Mom to two kids! It was hard to be worried though when Emerson was so excited to have Mommy home. But luckily Grandma is around for a couple weeks while Ben is so busy with school. I think E's really going to be sad when Grandma has to go home because he's become quite attached to her. (He's not going to be the only one who is in tears.)

We sure love our little peanut and are so glad to have her here. We think she's the cutest girl ever!

Introducing...

Samantha May Christensen

Born July 23rd, 2010 at 3:52 p.m.
6 lbs. 12 oz. 19 inches

Very angry at the world

Getting weighed

We're so glad to have her here!

Daddy and Sammi

Mommy and Sammi

Grandma J and Sammi

E and Sammi meeting for the first time

His quote: "Oh, so cute! Ohhhh!"

Our happy little family of four

Everything went well during labor, and we're so glad to finally have our precious little girl here. More pictures will be coming soon. :)

38 1/2 Weeks

Anytime, baby girl, anytime.

Coming Soon

My absence does not, unfortunately, mean that I have given birth to bebe sister yet. We're still plugging along as usual, but are so happy to have Grandma J here now! If I don't go into labor by myself before Friday, then I have an appointment to be induced that morning. So our little girl will be here Friday at the latest! Can't wait!

3rd Year Begins!

After our whirlwind of Fourth of July activities and a long weekend, reality quickly set in the next morning when Ben officially started his third year of medical school. Isn't he cute in his official green scrubs!? I was a little freaked out when I saw him in his scrubs, but got even more freaked out when he came home with a pager and an OB/Gyn call schedule. Bleh.
He has now had his first night of call...30 whole hours...and is back on again tonight. Can I just say that I feel like I have whiplash? Two weeks off after boards...fun, blissful, practically worry-free...to this. I always knew it would stink, and I know it will only get worse during intern year when he's actually responsible for patients' lives, but I hope I quickly learn how to get used to this.

Just Finished Reading...

This book: The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. I really really liked it. It was clean as well, meaning no explicit sexual activity and no language. Hooray! I loved the author's writing style too. She was so descriptive without being too wordy. I liked the pace at which this book read because it wasn't necessarily a really quick read, but it kept me engaged and gave me enough to want to keep reading. I was disappointed when I was done with this book, (as I am with all good books) because I got kind of attached to the story. Anyway, I highly recommend it.

37 Weeks

37 weeks and counting! Can't wait to meet you, baby girl. Especially since I feel like you're going to drop out of my body at any second.

3rd/4th of July

Silly Hilliard decided that they would have their parade on Sunday this year, and we thought that was lame, so we went to Dublin's parade on Saturday with the Richards. E was a lot more excited about the parade this year than he was last year, and he was almost useful gathering candy. :)

Ah, that's my son. Terrified of all mascots everywhere.

Since the parade and festivities were on Saturday, that also meant they fell on my birthday this year! The Richards were good sports to spend practically the whole day with us on our group date. We went to Genji, a Japanese steakhouse, for my birthday dinner, and we had a great time. We especially enjoyed the big whoosh of fire that made both of their children burst into tears.
It made Emerson yell "Whoa! Fire!" and he loved it. I don't know where that brave boy came from...especially the brave boy with 50% more teeth than the average toddler. (I'm just kidding, he just looks really toothy in his cheeseball picture.)
He was my big helper when I was blowing out the candles on my birthday cake. It was a Cookies 'n' Cream cake and it was delectable.
After cake, we headed to the Dublin fireworks. E didn't know why he got to stay up way past bedtime, but he was loving it. When we got to our spot and spread out blanket out, he proceeded to run down the hill lightning fast when he saw a dad and son playing frisbee together. Out of nowhere, he totally stole their frisbee and ran away. We didn't teach him that! So Ben was a good dad and helped him give it back. Little stinker.


On the Fourth, we were super fun and did snaps and sparklers. E thought they were cool until he put it too close to his body and felt the sting, and then he said "go mommy" and handed it to me.

He was also a lucky duck and got to stay up late AGAIN to go to the Hilliard fireworks.

Happy Fourth of July!

Something we shall try not to dwell on was the fact that our a/c went out on my birthday of all days! And of course they couldn't come fix it until the 6th...3 whole hot days away! It was a blistering 94 degrees with 85-100% humidity. I was dying and actually burst into tears on Tuesday afternoon when the repairman hadn't called to say he was coming yet. I had my first experience with sausage feet that afternoon, and I have a greater appreciation for those pregnant women who experience that more often than I have. It stinks. But luckily now it is a distant memory because it is fixed and we are once again comfortable and non-puffy.

Summer Fun

So we had corn on the cob the other night, and E LOVED it. I didn't think he would even care, but he was like, giddy about it. He cleaned this little one off and then asked for more. We have had it again since then, and when he saw me shucking the corn he started yelling "Oh boy! Oh boy! Corn!!!" and then "helped" me get it all ready.
I love that whenever we're watering our lawn or garden and E is outside playing, he automatically gravitates to the water. He'll start by skirting around the edges, getting a drop or two on him, then he'll start chucking toys in the stream so he has to go retrieve them, and then he'll stick his feet in, and then the next thing we know, he's soaked to the bone and loving it. He was having so much fun last time that he even convinced Daddy to run through the sprinklers with him.
And they both got soaked. Doesn't E look a little guilty?
And proud of his wet little footprints?
I had a little boy with blue lips by the end, but he was happy as could be and thoroughly enjoyed his warm bath.

Baby Shower

Earlier in June, my dear friend Candice threw baby girl and I a baby shower. Everything was perfect, as to be expected. :)

The guests:


The food and cute favors. Candice made the flower arrangement, which was actually a bunch of fabric hairbows clipped onto bamboo skewers. Isn't she clever?
Everyone was so generous and I loved opening all the cute baby girl things. It makes everything seem so real! (Not that my watermelon-sized stomach doesn't help things a bit, too.) Thanks again, Candice!

Aunt Nannie's Visit

We were so lucky to have Aunt Natalie come visit. It was especially nice since we weren't really able to travel to see family with the impending arrival of our baby girl. She was able to stay for a week, and boy did we pack in the fun with Ben on a break from school too!

We loved Buck Creek so much that we decided to try it again, and it was perfect weather! We were able to bring our inflatable sea creature from Great-Grandma Mac to try out. And yes, everyone on the beach was jealous.


"Nannie" did a lot of this with Emerson. Snickering while playing with him, that is. He's definitely got his own little ways of doing things. I can't count how many times he said "Come on, Nannie, come on!" and grabbed her finger and led her away to "pay trains."
About this loaf of bread...poor E had to wait a while to eat breakfast because we were going to go out somewhere and we all took a long time to get ready. This was sitting on the table waiting to be delivered to some people in the neighborhood, and E just couldn't stand it anymore. He ripped right through the plastic and devoured it. I couldn't even get mad.


We went to Lowe's for one of their free clinics and all three of us helped Emerson build a monster truck. I don't know why, but I got all cuted out seeing him wield that teeny hammer while wearing his manly apron. He was proud to be a "Handy Manny" like on TV.

We walked on the train tracks again, me while hiding a watermelon under my shirt.
E got a stick of candy from Spaghetti Warehouse and while I was picking up Panera bread, he managed to wedge the whole stick in his mouth sideways while Daddy watched him. :)
This picture looks pretty similar to the one before it, but this is E's fishy face. He thinks he's puckering his lips like Natalie's.
While Ben was at Scout Camp overnight, Nat and I took E to COSI and watched his mad hula-hooping skillz and went to the Titanic Exhibit. We both loved it.


E was very proud of his levitating ball at COSI.
Nannie also blew bubbles with E, or rather held the tube while he flung the bubble solution around. She's good for things like that.
Natalie is also good at playing at the park with E.

Among things not photographed: Hours and hours of crafting, hitting the Old Navy sale, eating out at lots of yummy places, watching Mannequin...weird show..., having our Indiana Jones marathon, going to see Eclipse, making Cafe Rio, and lots of tears from everyone but Ben when Nannie had to leave. E cried for probably 10 minutes when we dropped Nat off at the airport. He loves his Nannie.

Thanks for the visit, Nannie! And thanks Mom and Dad for sending her out for BIG fun!