Yes, MORE pictures of Linden

On Firday, Linden had her 2 month appointment and got four immunization shots; poor little girl! She had a small reaction to them and she got her first dose of children's tylenol. She's better today; as you can see from the pics I just took this morning. She's 23" long now, and regular pants look like capri's on her. She's gonna be a tall one, as she is in the 80% for her height!

Brett and Lindy

Bruno can't miss out on a good lounge on the sofa! He loves hanging out with Brett and Linden. He's been super protective of Linden and barks when he can't find her in the house; it's really cute.

Bath Time!

Linden LOVES the bath now, she just lays in the little hammock and smiles. You would think she was an Aquarian like her Mommy!Look at what a chubby she has become! Weighing in at 11 pounds, 11 ounces @ her 2 month appointment!

Cutest Chicago Baby!

How Cute is this Baby?

Linden has come into her own in the past few weeks, and she’s smiling more and started to coo and giggle! She’s been such a joy and Brett and I feel soooo lucky to have such a magnificent little girl!
Yesterday at Mommy’s group, she weighed in at 11.5 lbs! She loves to grab her chubby thighs now, too! She has blessed us with sleeping longer and longer in the night, last night she went 7 hours- uninterrupted-mind you! She’s going to be a little dream machine soon!
She’s even into Wisconsin football! She likes getting up early (games start at 8am here on the west coast!!) and watching Daddy bounce around the living room while Wisconsin makes a touchdown! Hopefully she’ll fit into her badger outfit soon!

Uncle Eric's Weekend

Brett's brother, a.k.a Uncle Eric, came for a long weekend visit last week. We had a great time in and around San Jose. The weather was fantastic EVERYDAY!! We went on a winery tour on Saturday; hit a couple wineries and had a picnic along the grape vineyards. It was a great time and Laura got a chance to actually drink this time around! Linden had a great time in the Bugaboo and Bjiorn with Daddy. Eric taught Brett how to grill white fish "East Coast Style" and we enjoied a game night, where Laura smoked the boys!
Hotel Hammy is still open for business- come visit! Love to you all!

Introducing the bottle!

Linden had her first bottle while Grandma Jan was here, and has enjoied a bottle a day ever since. Brett likes to take the last feeding before bedtime, where Linden takes her daily bottle; which means more time for Mommy!! She's been doing very well with her eating, at her 1 month appoinment she weighed in at 9 pounds 3 ounces! She had also grown 2.5 inches- she's going to be as tall as her Mommy! All is well, and we are enjoying our little bundle of joy!

Grandma Jan Comes to California

Grandma Jan's visit to California brought us to the 17 Mile Drive along the Pacific Coast. We drove the beutiful Pacific coast and stopped in Carmel and had lunch and went to the beach. It was a beautiful day that included Linden's first day at the beach- one of many more to come!

Grandpa Hamilton

Grandpa Hamilton came for a quick visit yesterday and got a chance to meet his first Grandchild. Linden was very curious and wide-eyed, as you can see. The four of us had dinner in Saratoga, and a cute little Italian Bistro. We ate outside under the gas heat lamps- which were way too hot for the "Minnesotians" at the table! It was a great visit and we're so glad Grandpa got to meet little Linden.

THANK YOU NANA!

Nana, Thank you for; the cute Hanna Anderson outfits, the tag blankie, the "does this make my butt look big?" onsie, the endless smiles when you saw Linden, the premie Janie and Jack outfits, the sleepless nights, the endless diaper changes, the words of wisdom, the breastfeeding book, the icepacks, dinner at Mimi's, curious george book and beanie baby, jokes about Grandpa Salerno's lazy eye, the walks with Linden, the walks with Bruno, doing the laundry, putting Linden to sleep, waking Linden up, the burping, the rocking Linden to sleep, the dinner preperations, the cute gymboree outfits, the frozen yogurt, the hummingbird feeder and book, the fudgecicles, the wasp spray, getting up at 3 am to console us, the Rachel Ray dinners, loading Linden in the car and bugaboo, breakfast at Stack's... We are surely forgetting many other things. Most of all, thank you for your time. This will surely be a visit to remember forever. We'll be sure to explain to Linden how spoiled she was by Nana in the first few weeks of her life. We love you! Did we mention all the diaper changes???

Girls in San Fran

We could not have Nana come all the way to San Jose ( from St. Charles) and not take her across the Golden Gate Bridge! After all the recent sleepless nights and poopy diapers we decided to take a much needed trip into the city. Mom, Linden and I went into San Fran, ate lunch in Hayes Valley, shopped ( of course!) and headed for the Golden Gate Bridge. Mom loved it, and we stopped to get our pictures taken. Linden loved the brisk breeze, while Nana thought she was going to fall into the bay from all the wind! We had a great time in the city, and it's been such a wonderful time having Nana here in Cali! She's leaving in a couple days and we'll miss all of her help and much needed advice.

Look who's 4 oz heavier...

I know - seemingly useless information from 1st time parents! But it's cool to us. Everyone is doing great.

More Linden!

More pics for you...

Linden's Story

What a weekend! It's Tuesday morning and it seems as though we were just pulling up to the hospital at 11:45 on Friday night...

So, as I intimated in a poorly constructed email from the hospital, Laura executed on what is soon to be a best-selling labor inducement strategy at the end of last week -
- Wednesday - walking, walking, walking the streets of San Fran
- Thursday - spicy falafel for dinner!
- Friday - yoga in the afternoon. "last date" of Mexican food and pretend margaritas (walking, walking, walking).

By this point in the evening, we needed to get in the car and go home - contractions were getting regular and stronger. After, timing and writing these down for another hour or so, we decided walking the dog was in order. Only this wasn't a regular walk - as i glance to the side i see my laboring wife doing... lunges down the sidewalk!!! Get the bags ready and the keys in the ignition, is all i can think!

Once we arrived at Good Sam, Laura (you guessed it) walked to the delivery room where she was promptly checked in for good - this was the real deal. A sleepless evening gave us a chance to ponder what was before us. The epidural followed in the early morning hours, which was largely a success, save a side turn which left Laura in some serious pain before the anesthesiologist came back for the adjustment ("oh, he's just in a C section now Laura, is it ok if he stops in in about 40 minutes?" arghhh)

Delivery, i have to say, was so cool (easy for me to say!). Laura's doc Charlene showed up just after the 1st couple pushes. The nurse actually had to tell her to wait, as the doc was still 5-10 minutes out! Once she arrived, Laura turned gave several stong pushes to the soundtrack of her "labor #2" mix which happened to be playing Dave Matthews when we were greeted by little Linden - "what a cool song to deliver to" Charlene mentioned, as she explained that she and her daughter are going to the upcoming DMB show here in a few weeks.

The next couple hours, of course, were a blur of euphoria, adrenaline and just basically a feeling that can only be experienced! Numbers and positive reinforcements followed - 11:41 am, 7.9 lbs, 20" long, 8-9 apgar (great!), she looks very healthy and is crying. Even a partial feeding began to cement the mother-daughter bond.

A roll to postpartum followed along with a sponge bath (for Linden ;), a few more tests and finally a chance to be alone with our daughter - what a cool time for a new family. After a full feeding, she was down in the bassinet and some rest was finally ours. And - i swear to you - she may have had a halo around her! of course, i can't say for sure as i was very tired...

Feeding, burping (mostly Linden), napping was the plan for the next 24 hours or so - neighbors and friends guests came bearing flowers, gifts and food which was such a nice surprise for us.

And our time had finally come to meet the outside world, but not before a series of visitors for screenings, tests and an official record for Linden. Pulling away from the hospital with the new precious cargo is another feeling not to be missed for its mix of joy, anticipation and a little bit of "what have we gotten ourselves into now?"

And the Jeep pulled up to our new house in the midday sun of San Jose, and Linden was finally home... :)

Saturday in the South Bay

A beautiful Saturday afternoon in the South Bay gave us the perfect opportunity to get out and enjoy some friends, wine, food and...more wine. Ok, ok, as I mentioned several times throughout the day, Laura was to stick strictly to white wine for the health of the baby!

Anyway, the hills literally down the street from us have a bunch of wineries, a few of which we were able to take in with some college friends. Not only did we taste some good wine (and some not so good), but the scenery, including peacocks and horses was quite surreal. There were several “welcome to California” moments which were a great diversion for a couple of outdoors starved Midwesterners!

Our descent into Los Gatos for the evening brought us to the Pederson’s home for what can only be described as a five star dinner – thanks again, Maribeth (and Mark)! Somehow, even dusty old Wisconsin stories are better with Orange Roughy than brats.

So, hopefully a few more California diversions for us before our ultimate diversion (and love) shows up. I’ll admit, I don’t think I truly know what I’m in for but I’m buzzing with anticipation and excitement for it either way.