Hello! After a week of pain and agony, the move is complete! We're just now getting to boxes that are piled high in the living room and getting unpacked. Just wanted to let everyone know that Beeton is treating us well and within the next few days we'll post some photos of our four week old! PPS

Moving Week! A great big thank you to Karen Holah for helping us out yesterday (and the rest of this week!) as she was instrumental in turning our apartment into a war zone!
This past weekend was Lily's first night at the trailer - she was awesome - and looking oh so relaxed in her orange hat! She also met her cousins Whalen, David and Joey for the first time. David liked to just sit and stare at her :-) She also met my Great Grandma Bernice Neelands (my mother's mom's mother) at her first visit to Church. Lily also met my Grandpa Norman (my mother's father) for the first time to and we wandered around the gardens for hours ~ it was a wonderful weekend! We are now in the crunch time for packing. We're sad to report that the computer is one of the next items to be boxed up. Fear not though, it is a priority for us to get re-connected when we move on Friday. Look for an updated blog by Sunday night! We're looking forward to the move to Beeton as it will allow us to be closer to my parents, and both of my sisters and their collection of children. It's really important to both Mike and I that Lily have a chance to spend some quality time with family, especially since half of her family is far away (however, our trip out in December will be well worth the wait!).
Last night Lily and I went to Taylor Creek park for a BBQ that the 82nd Girl Guides hosted for us so that the girls could meet Lily. It was a great night!
Well, the boxes won't pack themselves! Think of us knee deep in cardboard and take pity on us for having to eat off paper plates and live out of suitcases for the next 72 hours! PPS

August 17th was a day of firsts for Lily as she attended her first wedding - congratulations to Patricia Quevedo and Rud'd'y Henry! We were at the doctor's yesterday and Lily has surpassed her birth weight of 8lbs 5oz as she now weighs 8lbs 8oz! Our baby is growing! Yesterday was also the first day she peed on Daddy! Here are some photos from the past few days. This is a quick update as we're packing for Lily's first trip up to Nana's & Papa's (soon to be called home) and then up to the lake!

Have a great weekend and we'll update the blog next week!

PPS

For the non- "G" rated crowd, here is the story of the amazing wet baby. She was pretty inconsolable the other day, and so I went to change her diaper: a little wet, a little poopie, maybe causing some discomfort. But she was wailing, almost as if I was giving her a bath (not a big fan of those yet, give it time). So, with her diaper off, and her wiped down, I picked her up before I put on her diaper to calm her down. So I have her in my arms, she's swinging, I'm holding her close, and I feel a trickle. Instinctively, I contort my body into the position you see above, although more with her legs dangling, and she just continues to leak like Andre "Red Light" Racicot, and before we know it, there's a huge puddle on the floor, daddy's belly and legs are more than a little wet, and I'm giggling like Homer after saying "titmouse."

Little did I know, the laughs had just begun. I'm laughing and telling Pamela what our darling child just did, when all of a sudden, an explosion bordering on mortar fire is heard, and I'm looking down, and I see this shrapnel on a shopping bag holding our bubble wrap, in the very distinct shape and colour of someone having squeezed the mustard container really hard not at its most empty, but pretty close, so there was a good amount of mustard on the bag. Now, I'm laughing so hard, Pamela has no choice but to come into the room to see what I'm going on about, and as usual in her world, this is a Kodak moment. So what you seen in the picture directly in front of me is the first part of the story's waste, and on the bottom left corner, you can see the shopping bag in question, and perhaps a bit of the second part of the story's waste on top of it.

I've got to go, I think I have Shawn Wayans on the other line about a screenplay.

MS

What a great week it has been! Lily is a great little person and we're really enjoying her company! We've had some great visitors over the past couple of days and have had a few outings! On Saturday night Lily and I went to Patricia's bachellorette party and had a great time. Of course Lily ate the entire time but that seems to be her routine.

Late last week Mike and I were running on skeleton sleep and by Friday we were pretty tired. It's as though Lily had radar - it's as though she said to herself, if I don't let my parents sleep they're not going to be able to provide for me! Friday night she slept from about midnight to 7 a.m.! Saturday she slept from about 1 a.m. to 8 and then last night she slept from about 1 a.m. to 7:30! Mike and I know not to get attached to this sleeping arrangement as it could be only be enough to get us re-energized, but wow has it been great! Of course the trade off is that Lily enjoys her feeding in the evening. From about 4-8 p.m. she snacks but then from about 8 p.m. to midnight she feeds constantly - but it's a fair trade!

Here are some photos of the past four days. The first one is of our friend Wendy (the woman that performed our wedding ceremony) and her daughter Anna visiting us on Thursday. Last night Daniel and Jennifer came for a visit (thanks for the dinner, scotch and cute outfits!).

Yesterday was the first day that we dressed Lily in pink. Yes, it took me 11 days to dress my daughter in pink, but I did it - and it didn't hurt too much. (FYI - my theory about my distain for the colour pink stems from the fact that I'm a redhead and wasn't able to wear pink and therefore haven't accepted it as a colour). I've also included a self-family portrait :-) And a photo of Mike and his baby :-) The single photo of Lily is when she was nine days old.

We've got quite the week coming up! We have Mike's playoffs for hockey on Tuesday and Wednesday. Patricia and Ruddy's wedding on Thursday then heading off up north for the weekend. Lily is going to meet some more of her cousins, and her Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Seabrook and hopefully her Great-Great Grandma Neelands!

Next week is moving week! We'll be packing on Wednesday and Thursday (a great big thank you to those who have volunteered to help!) and Friday August 25th is moving day! After then we'll be living in Beeton. Beeton is about 60 minutes north of Toronto. We'll be living with my parents for the upcoming months to help us to save up and to allow Mike to focus his energies on finishing up his PhD. We get to live within 30 minutes of both of my sisters (and their collective 6 1/2 children - my younger sister is due in December).

Enjoy the photos and we'll update soon! PPS

Lily's First Week
Wow - Lily is one week old! What a great week it has been. She had her first bath at home on Sunday just before she had her first outing. We went to an outdoor BBQ and of course Lily stole the show! Here is our second family shot. Other great news is that Lily is gaining weight and is breastfeeding quite nicely! Last night she slept from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. - WOW - six hours! Of course I spent the first two hours watching her breathe (it's mesmerizing!) then was able to enjoy the four hours remaining. Mike had hockey last night, leaving me alone with Lily for just over two hours. I'm proud to say that we did amazing :-) Due to a great night Mike was able to enjoy 7 hours of sleep! A new record!

Lily's umbilical cord fell off yesterday, and it is with great pleasure that Mike announces that Pamela will not be using it on a scrapbook page! Her new bellybutton is unveiled here for all to see.

The language of new parents is unbelievable. First of all, the short term memory loss and loss of vocabulary are stunning. "Megan, do you have any.... what's the word I'm looking for? Straws?" True story. All conversations centre around breastfeeding, poopies, and wet diapers. Anything else just doesn't compute.

Outings -- she doesn't seem to like them very much. A couple of nights ago, we were sitting around, realizing we were hungry, realizing we didn't want to make anything, and realizing we had not really taken Lily out in the stroller. It was nearly 9:00, Subway was 15 minutes away, so we figured why not? So we went on our way, introduced Lily to our superintendent, and she was wonderful. Turn the corner, and she was ticked off! I thought the pleasant rumble of the sidewalk would calm her but it only seemed to infuriate her as she wasn't able to keep her thumb in her mouth!

And finally, her first doctor's appointment with Dr. Colledge. She's gaining weight (back up to 7 lbs. 14 oz., steady weight gain over the past three or four days), her hips appear to be fine (we weren't exactly sure why her hips were examined, but she didn't say anything was wrong with them!), and apparently she's shrunk to 19.5 inches. The Incredible Shrinking Woman!!!!!

6:30 p.m. Day 4 of Lily's Life
Good Day! While our little one was fast asleep we thought we'd take the time to update the blog and cook dinner (meatloaf for anyone who's in the area!). Lily is doing really well. While Lily has enjoyed breastfeeding, Pamela hasn't enjoyed the soreness of it so we went to the breastfeeding clinic today and it made all the difference! The nurse told us that Lily has a long tongue and likes to do quick sucks both which are counter productive so she taught us some techniques to help us to train Lily so she gets a full meal.

The photo of Lily in the purple dress (thanks Nana!) and white blanket (thank Great-Grandma Wolfe!) was on Thursday August 3rd -the day we brought Lily home. The photo of the lily is from one of the bouquets that have been delivered to us by family & friends. The photo of Lily sucking her thumb is from August 4th - day 3 of her life.

We're enjoying our time with Lily. It's been so amazing learning all about this little treasure. There are so many things that I look forward to with our new family that I sometimes catch myself and remind myself that Lily will never be four days old again and that I need to enjoy the here and now.

I'd like to thank Heidi Tsao for her wonderful baby gift of the 'Introduction'. She did a wonderful job and it was great to be able to send it out to people to announce Lily to our friends and family.

Well, the time honoured advice of 'sleep when the baby sleeps' is sooo true - so I sign off for now but look forward to our next update! PPS

5:14 pm

Welcome to the world, Lily Rosemary Szala!!!

Ok, the proper time on that would be 12:39 am on August 2, and so our grand prize winner goes to Chris Benjamin, who guessed midnight on August 2, just 39 minutes off! Congrats Chris! You've won a no-expenses paid trip to Finland!

Lily is doing wonderfully. She's gorgeous, has a bunch of hair, a healthy set of lungs, incredible latching power, and I'm just so damn proud! Of her, of Pamela, and heck, even of me! She's good at letting us know she needs us, but also pretty content to just lie back and check out the world. She's also pretty good at sleeping, as I found out, holding her for nearly 4 hours this afternoon. She's my little football!

More sleep than Mom and Dad have managed in the past 36 hours combined, which, I believe is at a grand total of 3 -- 2 for Dad, a solitary 1 for Mom. Night of the Living Dead, here we come!

Mom, Lyle, and Leeat were of crucial importance during the delivery, and big shout-outs go out to them. We really needed you, and you came through in the clutch. Thank you so much!

And thanks to all who have called, emailed, checked out the blog impatiently (that means you, Mom), and thought of us through these tough but brilliant times. We love you all.

MS

9:30 a.m. Week 41 and 3 days!

Off to the Hospital!

Yesterday morning we had a non stress test done at the hospital and all was good. Then we had an appointment for 5:30 p.m. last night at the hospital for a gel application (often used to ripen the cervix, common procedure for inductions). Due to the volume of women, and the shortage of nursing staff, in the maternal triage, at 7:00 we left for dinner then returned for 8 p.m. We got into triage at 8:30 p.m. and was placed on a fetal monitor where they monitored Sammy's heartrate and any contractions I may have had. At 10 p.m. the Dr did an internal examination. It turns out I didn't need the gel as I was 1 1/2 to 2 cm dilated and 80% effaced! They sent me home and asked me to return at 8 a.m. At 6:30 this morning, the hospital called to say they had a really busy night and they asked that I call around 9 a.m. to see if they had space.

When I return to the hospital they'll induce me (either break my water or administer medication) to encourage labour. This means that in the next 48 hours Baby Szala will be born! The finalists include; Mike's cousin Shannon for guessing August 1st at 2 a.m. ; Chris Benjamin for guessing August 2nd at midnight; or my older sister for August 4th at 11:45 p.m. (oh man!).

Mike and I have decided not to use The Price is Right's rules (the closest without going over) instead we'll see who was closest, period.

Thank you for thinking of us! We'll update as soon as we can! PPS