Let me direct your attention

to our photographer Mel's blog about her experience photographing Roscoe's birth.

She also created a gorgeous slide show of all the photos she took that night. We've had it on repeat, tissues in hand.

Mini Reunion

Roscoe and I caught up with two of our Bradley classmates yesterday afternoon!


Roscoe met Lilian (4 weeks old) and Sammy (2 weeks old) for the first time, while the new moms exchanged birth stories, advice, and adventures to date. It was sanity saving to catch up with other women who can directly relate to what I'm experiencing right now. For one, exclusive breastfeeding is harder work than I anticipated!

This is yet another way in which our birthing class has proven it's value: Andy and I now have a network (in our immediate area), of at least three other new moms and dads, that we can tap for emotional and social support.

The "big" Bradley reunion is set for mid July, and we're all eagerly awaiting the births of the last two babies (due in mid June, and early July)!

Cute as a ...

Someone's sporting a new belly button!!!

Relax!!

This afternoon, Heidi made a house call in order to treat a new mom to a full body massage.

I'll admit, it was DIVINE!!

Orchestrating a sleeping Roscoe with Heidi's arrival required quite the planning on our end, but as she knocked at the door, I was just handing over to Andy a drowsy baby. Lucky for all of us, Roscoe slept for almost two hours, which gave me the uninterrupted time I needed to truly enjoy a little pampering, and also left time for an infant massage lesson at the end.

Baby Roscoe seemed to like his mini massage and I enjoyed the opportunity to learn from a professional; Roscoe can definitely look forward to more!

Must-Haves

Here is a short list of items that I found helpful during my pregnancy, and in preparation for labor and/or motherhood:

Books:
Baby BargainsBaby-Proofing your Marriage
The Birth Of A Mother
The Thinking Woman’s Guide to a Better Birth
Birthing from Within
Birth
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth
Also, Andy enjoyed The Expectant Father

Movies:
The Business of Being Born
Websites:
www.babycenter.com
www.thenestbaby.com

Pregnancy Necessities:
Tums
Bella Band
Snoogle pillow
Pregnancy Journal
Hand held mirror--for when your belly's too big but you still need to shave!!
The gym!!!!!

Birth Necessities:
A doula!
A photographer
Bradley classes

Oh! and above all else, I could not have done without Andy!

Begin again

Susan has sternly instructed me NOT to engage in any physical activity for the next couple weeks. She suggested that I "consider" taking a few strolls around the block at two weeks; it makes me cringe to think of waiting that long, much less for a meager stroll...but I figure it's better to be safe on the front end, assuming that my body will recover faster if I take it slow now.

However, staying true to my control freak nature, and my inability to sit still, I am headed to weight watchers at 1:00. Momma has 24.5 reasons why.

SUCCESS!

Before Roscoe arrived, our plan was to spend Saturday of Memorial Day weekend purchasing our new car. But since R decided to show up on Tuesday, we initiated Plan B.

After our pediatrician appointment on Friday, Jacqueline headed South with the babe and I braved the holiday weekend traffic heading North, final destination: Annapolis Volvo. After many trips to consider cars at several different dealers, Jacqueline's new baby mobile is a sick looking titanium gray Volvo S80, with plenty of safety features to keep the little guy well protected.


After I arrived home Friday evening, we loaded Baby R into his car seat, and Jacqueline and I took him for a spin to Babies R Us for some essentials. The ride was smooth and the baby was relieved to be out of his previous budget travel accommodations.

Roscoe in his car seat:

A few professional shots from Mel....just minutes after birth