Retrospective: Matilda the newborn

Matilda was born at 5:58pm July 4, 2008. She was 8 pounds 8.4 ounces and 21 inches long.
As a newborn we worked hard to establish breastfeeding, did a lot of snuggling and napping and she gave us her very first smile.

A year ago today

A year ago today I was feeling pretty down. I woke up on July 3, 2008 believing I would be induced that afternoon. I was SO tired of being huge and pregnant! But we went in for our tests and found out that all the concerning things had corrected themselves and that Matilda could stay put for a long time.
I'll admit it--I cried!

Little did I know that by 7 that night labor would begin and the next day I would have this:


My beautiful girl will be 1 tomorrow!

Cabinet Session

Half way!

Baby Chili is half baked. I'm 20 weeks along today. Chili is about 7 inches long (measuring from head to bottom, closer to 12 inches if you include the legs) and weighs 11 ounces, is getting hair and finger nails and kicking like crazy! Ed can already feel some of the kicks and you can even see it when Chili moves around behind my belly button. We have our next routine ultrasound on July 9.


Here is Chili today:


And this was Matilda at 20 weeks:

Helping

Long anticipated post

We've been having some technical difficulties getting our videos to upload lately, but I can't put it off any longer. Still no videos, but her are some pictures from our trip to South Dakota.

We left around 9:30 on a sunny Friday morning. We made several stops along the way to let Matilda play outside, and even had a long lunch in the Wisconsin Dells.


On Saturday when we went out to the farm, Matilda cozied up to Great Grandma Shirley right away.


She behaved nicely during lunch, and all our meals


She made friends with Great Aunt Lois, but she was scared of Great Uncle Wayne's mustache!


And she definitely found plenty of time to climb and play with Great Grandma.

Ball!

Matilda learned a new word over the weekend--Ball! That was her daddy's first word!

"Relaxing" outside

She looks a little tense without her play blanket. She loves to be outside, but is still getting used to the grass.



She refused to put her legs down until we got her blanket out for her! Silly kid!

Lounging

Matilda has discovered that soft places are ideal for lounging.

She finds something soft, like the dog bed or a pile of blankets and throws herself into them.


Then she just gets comfy



And relaxes.

awwww!

Don't Fence Me In!

Now that Matilda can climb the stairs we've had to corral her with a series of gates. She wants her freedom.

Her Father's Daughter

We're preparing for guests and Matilda found the beer!

Trouble

And I couldn't leave you with only a 1 sentence pictureless post today, could I?

Blind Item

Which young girl learned to climb the stairs yesterday and fearlessly went all the way to the top?

C is for Cookie

Just cute

Here's some cuteness, just because.
Also, got a new tooth yesterday. Total now is 6, but I think there are some more planning to show up soon.

The toast of the town

While we were in Williamsburg, Matilda didn't have any trouble making new friends!
First, there were Mr. and Mrs. Sheilds of Sheilds' tavern. Mrs. Sheilds was particularly fond of Matilda and was thrilled when we came back for a second dinner. Matilda was carried and danced and walked around the restaurant all through dinner giving Ed and I a chance to enjoy ourselves and eat slowly enough to taste our food.




There was also the book binder who wrote out Matilda's name in old-timey script for her with a quill pen.


And, of course, there were various other interpreters along our way from the plays we saw, to waitresses at lunch, and even people in the street declaring that she was the cutest baby *ever*! And who am I to disagree?

One person she didn't like--Mr. Jefferson. I suppose a bronze President isn't the friendliest looking thing in the world, but she got down-right scared!

Big Sister

Here are Matilda and Baby Chili going for a walk in Williamsburg. I can't believe I'm this big already, it's going so much faster this time.


We had another ultra sound yesterday. I am 13 weeks pregnant today, officially in our 4th month and 2nd trimester. Baby Chili looks perfect, maybe a little on the big side (surprise, surprise). Chili is over 3 inches long and weighs a bit more than an ounce. Baby can move about, is developing reflexes and cartlige is turning to bone now. All the major parts are there and Chili is focusing on growing now and getting big and chubby! Chili already has unique finger prints and can respond to pressure by moving around.
Here's the ultrasound image, the head is up towards the top left of the image, the body is oriented diagonally across the picture, looking up. It's fairly easy to make out the shape of the head and the round little belly at this point. There's also a blob by the face--that's Chili's little hand--right up by the face just like Matilda had hers at every ultrasound we ever took of her!


I'm still planning to keep Chili's gender a surprise (if I have the will power) but I think it will be fun to try out a bunch of old wives' tales about predicting gender, so if you want to make your prediction, or suggest a fun little test for us to try, please leave comments, I'll keep track of what we try and let you know what was right and what was wrong when Baby arrives in November!

We're back!

Miss Gustafson goes to Washington






And little brother or sister "Baby Chili" makes an appearance too!