Baby's First Christmas???

Last year our friends Scott and Maria gave Nory a "Baby's First Christmas" stocking.  As we were decorating for Christmas last weekend (yes! it happened!), I pulled it out of the holiday bin and decided we should add a question mark to the end of the "Baby's First Christmas" cursive - embroidered ever-so-sweetly at the top of stocking.  I mean, babies DO come early (sometimes, right?!) and I was certainly not going to let our newest addition celebrate her first BEST HOLIDAY EVER in a non-traditional way.  NO WAY JOSE!  And so I told Phil we must let Santa know what's on the new baby's wish list (which she shares with me nightly via morse-code-kicking) - just in case she happened to appear before her mid-January due date.  Three weeks early seemed like a normal thing and I wanted to be prepared! 

Moving on to the next part of this random story....

It wasn't our intention to go the mall this past Friday.  In fact, the plan was to keep Nory on her morning schedule, get her to nap well, and then take some maternity pictures with Emily once she woke up.  But then Nory woke up with even WIDER FEET than her widest shoes and it was off to the mall to find some extra-wide Clarks she could wear for our planned OUTDOOR photo excursion.  This released the flood gates for a whole other series of extraordinary events:  rain in Kuwait (so much for the beach pictures!), an unhappy-and-unwilling-to-eat-or-sleep-because-back-molars-are-popping through toddler, a sick to her stomach/bathroom bound photographer, and a random "PHIL I AM HAVING SOME SERIOUS PAINS" at the mall incident contributed by the pregnant lady herself.  Just a few hiccups in the road, yes?  

Well, based on my not-so-settle encouragement, the four of us were able to regroup as best as we could given the aforementioned events.  Nory got shoes (not exactly photo-shoot material, but they light up when she stomps and plays and that's a big hit with her).  Emily rested and got her stomach back in working order before cabbing to our place.  Nory crashed for a couple of hours....EVENTUALLY.  And ate (ice cream, nonetheless!)......EVENTUALLY.  My pains subsided......EVENTUALLY.  And although the rain kept up, Emily was able to make our inside space work A-OKAY!  We had thoughts of postponing the shoot until the next weekend (which probably made the most sense) but I KINDLY (or not) insisted we got the show on the road, fearing the consequences of my mall pains as a looming early delivery.  Ah-hem, what good are bump photos without the bump?!  The show had to go on!!!!  IT HAD TO!!!!!!!! 

And so the miraculous crew of dedicated individuals persevered!  Through Nory's extreme disinterest and all (have you noticed my lack of Nory pictures these days?!), photos were taken and there's living proof I had an honest-to-goodness bump at 32 weeks.  Here are a few snapshots from Friday's session.  A big thank you to Emily for all of her time and effort in taking/editing these pictures!!!! XOXO

Charming, yes?!  We planned on heading to the beach early this coming Friday to approach it from our initial angle, but as the series of unfortunate events continues, I think this plan has already been axed.

I'm in the hospital, people!  Admitted on Sunday night with some spotting and premature uterine contractions.  It's been a big scare, with Goose already listening to Phil's "if you're not early, you're late" speech at a mere 32 weeks and 2 days of gestation.  I mean.......I can name a few 12 or 13 year old's who listen to my husband's words out of 100% fear....but I feel she's too innocent to even recognize such a sincerity in this brief, yet influential speech I've heard a billion times.  (Have any of you heard him say it with intention?  It even gets ME ON THE MOVE!).  

Back to the baby.  She's okay.  I'm okay.  And we've been receiving the best treatment the last two days to encourage her lung development and stop my contractions.  Tonight I am supposed to be disconnected from the medicine and then observed for 7 hours to see how my body holds up!  FINGERS CROSSED!  I'm hoping to be discharged tomorrow morning, at which point the doctor is to discuss with me what this means in terms of work....(sore subject 'round here).

Perhaps I will get the chance to do some more blogging while "resting" at the hospital today.  Those quotation marks are there with purpose, y'all.  Maybe that will be my next blogging topic:  "Resting" at the Hospital.........

Thanks for all the love that has been sent our way!  XOXO..........