More of Marin

Marin is doing so well at home! She is getting on a little schedule and is such a happy baby!! She eats about every 3 hours and when she is awake, she is such a little observer.

We are using the bibs a lot because Marin LOVES to eat. Look at those cheeks for proof. Speaking of eating, breastfeeding is going GREAT! (Thanks Amanda for all your help.) I wasn't sure if it would work for us but honestly (this may be TMI), I love hearing her gulp when she eats. And my favorite is when she is done, she has a big smile with milk ALL OVER HER MOUTH. It really is just too cute. She gets her appetite honest though. Her mom and dad both enjoy a good meal.

Burke actually had to go to work today just for a day thing. Here he is saying goodbye for the day. I know Marin is the star of the blog now but I love Burke's face in both of these pictures. It kinda makes me tear up. He LOVES LOVES LOVES this baby girl. She is so very lucky. And so am I.


Our friends here in Chicago gave us these infant cards as a baby gift. They are black and white pictures of jungle animals.

Marin loved them!! She would just look and look at each picture. She is a genius, of course.

Trying out her swing....

And helping Mommy with dinner....seriously, look at those cheeks.

And no one really talks/prepares you for the "recovery stage" of pregnancy. Uh, ouch. I am still a bit sore but every day gets better and I know that one day soon I will be able to walk again without looking like a just finished riding a horse cross country without a saddle.....twice. :o) (Thank you Heather for all your help! I have great friends.)

And when does this go away?? Wasn't expecting elephant feet after delivery?!?!? Seriously, how do I make it go away? I elevate them when I can but it's hard with the all the other "uncomfortable issues" going on right now. Any suggestions?

But Burke and I are loving being parents to this precious little girl and want to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

Marin's Homecoming

We are home! Burke and I are relieved to be back home but we think Marin may be the most excited. She has got to feed and get in 2 good naps without a doctor or nurse interrupting her sleep. She is such a happy baby.


Her Daddy loves her! (and KU)

Her first diaper change in HER ROOM!!

A full tummy....

Snuggling with Daddy....

So happy to be home!!!

Marin's Arrival Story

Marin is here!! She made a surprise, unexpected entrance. We were putting away Christmas decorations and waiting for contractions to signal "the time" when my water broke at home. Not really knowing what I was experiencing, we went back and forth trying to decide what had just happened. We called the doctor and he told us to head to the hospital. We were excited but had expected hours of contractions so it wasn't as dramatic as we expected. :o)

Here we are leaving to go to Northwestern Hospital.

We arrived in triage and they ran some test just to make sure my water did break (and I didn't wet my pants) and then we were admitted. Once we were in the room, they gave me an IV with penicillin and potocin (sp?). I had tested positive for Group B Strep (apparently it's not a big deal just had to have penicillin during labor). With my water breaking, they wanted to try and progress the labor to prevent infection....so potocin for FOUR hours and I still hadn't "felt" a contraction or dialated past 3 cm. So they checked me out and I had an extra bag of water between Marin's head and my cervix (?). They busted the water bag and BAM! Contractions and dialation strong and hard. Woohoo!! Finally. I got my epideral (which HURT) and then we tried to rest before the real action began.

A little info on Dad: Burke was AMAZING!!!!! He was much more "hands on" than he had expected to be, he held a leg, and counted for me on several pushes. I couldn't have done it without him. Sidenote: Our labor nurse was a mix between Jillian Micheals and a Real Desperate Housewife. I kinda wanted to hit her. So Burke kept me smiling and pushing!

I pushed for 2 hours and 40 minutes and....

Marin Jordan Brednich finally arrived!

Our first meeting was perfect! She is PERFECT!

8 lbs and 15oz

20 inches long

Our first family photo! We love her so very much!

Precious!

In the room, the only time I got to hold Marin was to feed her. :o) Burke couldn't get enough of her and she of him! Here is reading her the New York Times from his Kindle. (Makes me smile.)

Seriously.....she's perfect.

We love you, Marin!

Marin's Hospital Photos

The complete story will come soon but here are a few pictures taken by the hospital photographer of our precious Marin!

Marin Jordan Brednich

Born December 27 at 10:12am

8lbs 15oz

20 in long

A Little Promise to Marin

Marin, if you ever come out....I promise you will never lose my love or your Dad's....

12 You Cannot Lose My Love by Sara Groves

You will lose your baby teeth
At times you'll lose your faith in me
You will lose a lot of things
But you cannot lose my love
You may lose your appetite
Your guiding sense of wrong and right
You may lose your will to fight
But you cannot lose my love
You will lose your confidence
In times of trial your common sense
You may lose your innocence
But you cannot lose my love
Many things can be misplaced
Your very memories be erased
No matter what the time or space
You cannot lose my love

You Cannot Lose My Love by Sara Groves
Album: All Right Here

While We Wait....

I've decided to use this "waiting time" to sew a little. I really need to practice more! But I followed this pattern and made Marin some pajamas and then some snowflake pants with ruffles with some extra fabric I had around the house.

Here are the pjs...the fabric is super soft.

I used one of the squares to have a little matching onesie. I have a wee bit of trouble centering things these days....

And the snowflake pants...

They were fun to make and I have some more extra fabric that I may keep practicing on but I would really like to spend that time....HAVING A BABY!!!!!

Single Digits!

9 days until due date!!! Hopefully this is the last porch pooch we will be taking...

The doctor's appointment went well today. Marin's head is very low and I am dialated 2 1/2 cm now. We are just waiting, waiting.....

North Point's iBand

So I got this from my friend Sarah's blog who got it from her brother's church (North Point Community Church). But it made me laugh and I wanted it on my blog too.

Enjoy the i-Pad/i-Pod Christmas carols.....

Hodge Podge

First, this is what we woke up to this morning....

LOVE IT!!! So beautiful and it is still snowing!

Second, we saved some of our gift cards from showers to make sure we had everything we needed for Marin closer to time. Well, it's closer to time. And we waited until Cyber Monday to catch a great deal on our rocking chair!! With the deal and our cards, we got our glider for $50! It came today and Burke did an excellent job putting it together. It is so comfortable!

It feels like her room is complete now.

Practicing...

(Bill and DeeDee, I am wearing the UPS sweatshirt in honor of you.)

My friend, Brooke, from Austin sent Marin some Longhorns outfits. So adorable!

Basketball and Porch Pooch

Here is the 37 week Porch Pooch. I took my coat off for the picture but it was COLD! We woke up to snow again today and it is so beautiful! I love it even if waiting for the train is a bit chilly now. The doctor's appointment went well today. I am not dialated any but she could feel Marin's head. Yikes. They changed up the adjective today and instead of saying "big baby" she went with "solid baby". Burke asked her to feel my stomach and tell us what body parts we were seeing/feeling. She felt Marin's behind and that's when she said, "Yeah, you've got a solid baby here." We laugh.


You can't see the snow but here is a beginning of winter-ish picture of our street. I'm sure we will see a much better view of winter on our block soon.

Burke and I went to the Northwestern/GA Tech game Tuesday night. We thought we should try and squeeze in a game before the little one arrives. It was a lot of fun and I forgot that I make weird noises and jump a lot during basketball games. But don't worry, Burke was quick to make fun of me. And....Northwestern WON!

(Heather, I can post a lot because I'm not teaching like you are. I have a family that is slightly obsessed with this thing. And I don't write deep thoughts like you....I just post pictures with captions. I'm lazy.)

25 Days Until....

Until MARIN arrives!!! Ok, and Christmas. Burke and I have decorated the home for the holidays!


Here is our tree. We went back and forth with the real or fake tree dilemma. But Garden Ridge had a HUGE sale on artificial trees and so that pretty much solved the problem. I'm actually a little glad we went this route...allergies and bugs (heard some scary spider stories) worried me a bit with a newborn baby on the way. Next year who knows....

But I love it lit up at night! Now we just have to wrap presents/packages and put them under the tree!


And the stockings are hung by the chimney...I mean giant tv...with care....


Some of my favorite sentimental Christmas decorations.....
I love old family photos! These are Christmas picture of me and my sister and then Burke and his siblings. Burke and I are both the babies in the pictures.


My nativity scene from Uganda. I have one friend that collects these from all the countries she visits. I loved that idea but we started collected ornaments from our trips instead.


The basket of Christmas books (stole the idea from my friend Debbie). I love this basket because there are new books and books from my childhood in the basket. We've already started reading them to Marin. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is one of my favorite Christmas chapter books. I would love for it to be a tradition to read it every Christmas. The children's theatre here is putting on the play and we are going to try and go! So adorable!

Love those Christmas colors!

And now for some of the special ornaments of the year:

Last year we were in Nova Scotia....

This year...(tilt your head to the right)....our FIRST CHRISTMAS in CHICAGO!!

We have several of these picture ornaments of all that we've done in 2010. I have a little Christmas scrapbook and I plan on putting a page labeled 2010 and putting all the pictures from the ornaments in it. Each year, I will add a new page for each year (2011, 2012...) and add the pictures we used for the ornaments in the scrapbook. Then each year we can look through the book and see all the adventures and how our family has changed over the years.

Here is the ornament from MayeMaye to remind us each year that I was big and pregnant with Marin at Christmas time! Adorable! (Sorry so dark...the flash on my camera isn't working. Argh.

Mimi gave us this ornament last year from Washington DC. It's beautiful!

And of course....all the baby's first Christmas ornaments. Hopefully, we will remember to replace random kid's picture with Marin's picture.

And nothing says the holidays like a good cold! Burke is fighting with one now and I am doing my best to prevent one from coming. Colds are horrible and they take forever to go away. This stuff may be a permanent part of our Christmas decorations for a while!