Five days old in the Forest

On Boxing Day since the weather was spectacular for winter in the North Coast (i.e. not raining), we took Iver on his first hike in the Arcata Community (Redwood) Forest. He basically slept through the whole ride there and the walk, bundled in the baby K'tan carrier.

rockin' his beanie made by Ellen

I'm sure this will be the first of many hikes with our little one!

Farewell to pregnancy (late posting of the belly progression)

I know it seems like it (now that Iver's here and almost a week old!) is a strange time to do a post about the progression of my pregnancy, but in some way, now that that gestation is over, I can fully appreciate and see the changes that my body went through. I really had a very easy pregnancy except from some painful peripheral ulnar neuropathy in my right arm in the last few weeks.  I have a pregnancy and baby keepsake book that I may add this (and the Birth Story) blog posts to, to remember this special time.  We plan to, starting tomorrow, take regular photos to "see Iver grow" too, so this reminded me to finally put all these photos in one place!

The first positive pregnancy test, taken alongside an ovulation prediction strip test in Xi'an, China in April (I was probably just about 4 weeks pregnant here!)

Confirmatory test once we were back, stateside!

First (unofficial) ultrasound by Carolyn to see if we could date the pregnancy!

Dating sonogram "selfie" at around 8 weeks

 These are pretty self-explanatory

13 weeks

20 week sonogram photos

I love these portrait blocks from Erin and TJ although I had to revert back to the cards for one of my photos later as they didn't have the full complement of numbers (i.e. either no three or four)! :)

(missed a few weeks in here when we were on the East Coast)

with my post-Blessingway henna-ed belly!

I delivered at 38 weeks and 6 days so this was our last posed belly photo before Iver was born!

You can, of course, see the result of this growth in the Birth Story blog post!

A Very Special Christmas

Christmas is obviously extra-special this year, as we get to celebrate the birth of our Savior alongside our recent birth of our son!

We are adjusting okay to life at home. Kelvin's parents drove up on Tuesday from Orange County to stay with us and help take care of us this week and it has been fabulous!! Mom has been doing the cooking as well as sharing the baby-holding, leaving me time to get a few things done as well as ample time to feed our little one, change him, and basically just do "mommy" things.   Dad has been busy cleaning our kitchen and helping out with Pepper, his bud. They sure do love their new grandson!

like father, like son

We felt ambitious today and did attempt the outing to Christmas service at St. Mary's. I had a fussy hungry baby and missed the first half of the service, but overall it was a relative success. I am feeling extremely good after the birth despite the sleep deprivation (we have ourselves a night owl! But I guess residency may prepare us for something other than jobs as physicians?!) and it was nice to get out of the house and interact with the outside world.

by the manger

with the priest

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

We can't forget that Pepper did come first! Not sure we'll ever have everyone looking at the camera again!

Love this newborn smile!

We opted not to spring for formal newborn photos but did have some fun doing a "home" photo shoot for our (late) Christmas cards this year!