Christine is 1 month old!

I know time flies with a kid but it's still crazy to type that Christine is 1 month old! She is such a precious baby and Jonathan and I have loved getting to know her more and more everyday. Let me see if I can try to capture all that is Christine in this little blog post. First of all, she's so beautiful. She gets more and more beautiful everyday, especially those huge brown eyes. She's getting stronger and stronger by the day. She can fully support her head and will even lift it for a minute or two while she looks around the room, and I do mean the whole room! She can support herself with her legs too. She will sometimes lock out her legs while I hold her up and she really does stand! Her arms are just as strong. She can push and pull with amazing strength. She is also amazingly sweet with her touch. When you hold her she cuddles into you and reaches out with her hands. When she's eating she usually reaches up and keeps her hand on my chest. I can already tell that she's a sweet caring girl. She's also really fun. She smiles all the time while she's falling asleep and makes the funniest faces. I can't wait for her to smile intentionally! She has started staring at our faces and things like the ceiling fan so I think her vision is coming in too. She has been more awake during the day and has even had a very successful tummy time! She seemed to love it and is very determined and motivated. She already looked like she was trying to roll over and could hold her head up while lying down.  She is a great eater and we're going to start introducing a bottle soon. She definitely spits up quite a bit but it doesn't seem to bother her and it's not messing with her weight gain. She has the hiccups all the time but that also doesn't bother her at all. It's pretty hilarious when she's eating and has really strong hiccups. She keeps chugging away despite the fact the hiccups are making her jump. She's adorable when she sleeps. She sleeps on her back but turns her head. That helps with my nerves so I don't have to worry about her choking on her spit up. I have to admit though, I do sometimes still get up at night to check if she's breathing, haha. Oh, and didn't I mention that she's sleeping through the night?? She started doing that at about 3 weeks and her doctor said it's fine since she's been gaining weight well. Man do I consider us lucky! She often sleeps with her hands in front of her face, just like when she's eating. I think it's hilarious because it makes her look like she's working so hard. It's tough being a tiny baby! We may have a diva on our hands. We took our first family pictures and I love how they turned out! We got a small sample of them and will get them all this week. Christine was so well behaved and took some beautiful pictures!! She also took some with some funny faces. The photographer was trying to get her to stop and pose normally but we were happy for her to capture the funny faces. That's who she is and we were happy to capture her personality. We took pictures using two blankets made for Christine by our friends and made the pictures all that more beautiful!

Our family - Christine fits right in with us!

This photo takes my breath away :-)

Such a cutie!

We celebrated by going out for dim sum with our parents and my grandmother who was in town to meet Christine. We toasted with our tea to 1 month with Christine and many months to come! I hope they don't fly by too quickly!!

-The three of us

Nursing cuddles

Breastfeeding has been going very well. I've definitely had some challenges but the lactation consultants in the hospital were great and I had a follow up consultation to make sure we get everything right early on. I know I'm really lucky to have had a quick learning curve with breastfeeding. It has been such a special experience. I already feel that it has provided us with a strong bond and I know that will continue to grow. It has even been a bonding experience for us as a family since Jonathan has been so supportive during the challenging feedings. Since Christine's asleep most of the day it's also the times of day where we get to see her most active and learn more about her personality. She's just as strong as ever which can make it a challenge when she really wants to suck her thumb. I wouldn't want her any other way though. I am stoked to have such a fiesty baby and I can't wait to watch her learn to crawl, walk, and dance. Lastly, post breastfeeding cuddles make for a great time to take some pictures so enjoy!

Even daddy gets in on post feeding burping/cuddling sessions

- The three of us

Christine Lourdes Nassar

We welcomed our first daughter, Christine Lourdes Nassar, on July 29th at 10:15am. She weighed in at 6lb 8oz and was 19 3/4" long (or tall if you ask Jonathan). She's absolutely perfect and I have no idea where to start to tell you all about her. I guess I better start with her birth and go from there. Seeing as though she was due on the 24th, everyone was getting quite anxious for her arrival. I had two folks especially anxious that her arrival be timely. My good friend Ana was moving to Boston and was leaving on August 2nd and Jonathan's brother, Jordan, surprised us for a visit because he wanted to be here for the birth. Talk about pressure! Well lucky for them Christine was anxious to meet them too. On Sunday evening, while at dinner with Jordan ironically, I started having contractions but didn't have any pain. I decided to work from home on Monday and had a doctor's appointment that afternoon. My doctor said that contractions were a good sign, but it didn't mean anything until I went into real labor, meaning when contractions are regular and painful. Well I was a bit bummed but I was fine with being patient. I was keeping track of the time in between contractions and they seemed to always be about three minutes apart. About 7:30 that evening I started feeling what felt like menstrual cramps. I googled it (what did moms do before google??) and apparently that's what early labor feels like. Side note: why does no one tell you that? Haha, I though something was wrong but when I read that I just got excited that things might be starting. Still, I figured it would be awhile so Jonathan went and picked up dinner.  Turned out not to be the best idea for me to eat real food but I never expected things to progress as fast as they did. Well, my contractions continued to be every 3 minutes and were growing in strength so by two hours later we called the doctor on call and he said to go to the hospital. We were quite proud of ourselves for how calm we were in getting our things and getting to the hospital. Plus Christine was so polite and started labor after rush hour! After a smooth drive to the hospital, we checked in and were told that we'd have to wait for a room. Apparently it was a really busy night for them and we ended up waiting for a room for a hour. There was even another couple in the waiting room with us. I won't go into too much detail about labor, but I'll break up labor into two sections: pre and post epidural. The first half of labor was really tough. My contractions were always three minutes apart and became strong very quickly. My nurse, who I think was having a bad night because it was so busy, didn't explain much to me but I made it apparent that I wanted that epidural as soon as possible. Jonathan was a great support and massaged me to help me cope with each contraction. It seemed that there kept being more and more barriers I had to do before I got the epidural but finally at 5am they did the procedure. It took less time than anything up to that point. After that I completely conked out and slept for 3-4 hours. Labor was so exhausting and I knew I would fall asleep as soon as I got the epidural. When I woke up I had a new nurse and the rest of my labor was a great experience. Her name was Shelsea, I laughed that her name was almost the same as mine. Soon after the on call doctor came to check me and said I was 5-6cm. Shelsea said that it typically takes an hour to dilate each cm so I figured I'd get more rest and I told Jonathan to go to the cafe and get breakfast. Well while he was out my regular doctor came in to check me and said I was 10cm and ready to push. Jonathan was quite surprised to get that text from me and hurried back up. I pushed for an hour and Christine made her debut! Jonathan and I both choked back tears. The doctor first put her down on my stomach because her umbilical cord was short. Her first words about Christine were, 'She's fiesty!' After cutting the cord, they put her on my chest. I was just so shocked to finally meet her that it took me awhile to say anything. She was crying and crying and I finally thought, Chelsey say something! Once I started talking to her she immediately stopped crying and just stared at me. It was so beautiful for her to recognize my voice. She was absolutely beautiful and the doctor was right, she was fiesty! Her arms were so strong and she spent the first hour with her thumb in her mouth and her hand grabbing at her face. I was afraid she'd scratch herself but she's just fine. It was a beautiful bonding experience for all three of us. Overall I was in labor for 14 hours and pushed for 1. It went much faster than I expected. The first half (pre epidural) was miserable, but the second half was a pretty great experience. I'm so glad I had Jonathan by my side to help get me through it. My recovery went very well also. I consider myself very lucky.

Getting to know our baby has been the best. She's got so much personality already and we can't wait to get to know her more. She eats like a champ. After birth, babies typically lose 10% of their weight and they're expected to gain it back by 2 weeks. Well, by her one week appointment she had already surpassed her birth weight by 1oz! She sleeps great too. Sometimes I start to miss her because she's slept so much, but then she has a gassy few hours where she cries and cries and I'm happy for her to go back to sleep, haha. She can hold her head up impressively well and can kick and hold herself up with her legs. It's so impressive considering she's so small. I have a feeling she's going to bypass crawling and go straight to running. She's incredibly sweet. She makes the cutest faces and often looks like she's smiling. She loves being held and is sometimes difficult to put down, but it makes for really adorable snuggles after she eats. There have been lots laughs, tears (the happy kind), and kisses in our house. I hope Christine can already tell how loved she is. I love how Jonathan and I work together as parents. It surprises me how calm we are and how we naturally divide up what needs to be done. Of course, we do have tough nights and we are so lucky to have many family and friends who have come to our rescue. She's gone out on several trips and even went to her first mass. I took her up with me for communion and she got her first blessing. We got many 'awww' looks from everyone in the congregation too lol. Ok enough of me talking. I'll get onto the pictures now since that's what everyone is waiting for...

Love,

The three of us

Belly pictures

So I've been pretty lazy about taking belly pictures. Most times I'm ready to change in to pjs and I quickly hand my phone to Jonathan and ask him to take a picture before I go to bed lol. I know everyone's curious though and I want to make sure to document the pregnancy. So without further ado, here are some pictures!

I'm happy to report that I'm feeling very comfortable even t-minus 2 weeks before my due date! I haven't had any swelling and have been able to get pretty good sleep every night! I have some back pain but it's nothing major and Jonathan's a very nice husband and gives me many massages. Baby girl is starting to run out of room though! I'm sure that's not really true but she's head down and I'll feel her legs press up against my ribs from time to time. I guess she's just trying to get comfortable but sometimes I feel like I need to grow a couple inches so she'll fit haha. It's still so amazing to feel her move around. I'll worry that I haven't felt her in awhile and then she'll just slightly move her arm just to help calm my fears. She seems to be able to read my mind at times. Jonathan loves feeling her too and talks to her. The most adorable thing ever! It's hard to believe that she's going to be here so soon! I go through all the ranges of emotions of excited, nervous, worried, content, freaking out, etc, and Jonathan is just always excited. I don't understand it but he's sure good at keeping me calm. We're just trying to enjoy these last couple weeks!

-Chelsey

We have a nursery!

After lots of debate, Jonathan and I decided on an animal and tree themed nursery. We wanted something that was gender neutral because a) we're being practical and want things we can use for future kids and b) neither of us are interested in having an entirely pink room in our house. I'm aware that our daughter may want everything to be pink in a few years but we'll cross that road when we get there :-). I've been piecing together all the decor, bedding, and furniture and it's finally finished! I hope you like it as much as we do! I love just sitting in the glider and imagining our baby girl napping in the crib, playing on her play mat, us reading to her....

Our friends and family generously filled her bookshelves!

The owl was our anniversary gift to ourselves. I love how it looks in the room!

I just love it!!!

We are ready for you baby girl and can't wait for you to get here!!

-Chelsey

Babymoon

Jonathan and I decided to take advantage of the long Memorial Day weekend and take our last trip before the baby makes her arrival! Just like for our honeymoon, we wanted to pick somewhere that would be relaxing but still have a lot to do. Of course, wherever we went would have to be driving distance because I'm too far along to fly! It took a lot of debating because we've been to all the major cities within 3-6 hours away. We settled on a general Texas Hill Country trip. We stayed at a B&B in Canyon Lake which is about 20 minutes west of New Braunfels. That way, we could see some of the smaller towns we've skipped over in the past. We headed out Thursday evening since I could use my 9/80 schedule to take Friday off and Jonathan only had to take 1 day vacation. As per usual, we got a late start but that only meant we missed Houston rush hour! We got there pretty late so Thursday evening was pretty uneventful. Friday morning we woke up to lots of rain. We knew there was a chance of rain this weekend but I thought it was mostly forecasted for Monday. Well we got more rain than we expected but we still made the best of it. We decided to head to the San Marcos outlet mall since they have a Motherhood store. I figured if we were going to go we might as well go on Friday while people were at work and avoid the crowds. I got a few things to last me the next couple of months, including a dress for an upcoming wedding. Jonathan successfully found a few things at the Caphalon outlet store too. From there we decided to drive to Texas State University just because. I'm sure many of you know our weird obsession with visiting college campuses. Although I figured we wouldn't be able to blend in as well with my large baby belly haha. We mostly drove around because it was still rainy but we go tot see all the main sites. We decided to get out and walk to Old Main which was the original building of campus. It's supposedly known for it's gothic architecture but we were a little underwhelmed.

We found a pretty park!

Behold! Old Main!

TSU's stadium

From there we stopped for coffee before heading to Gruene, TX for dinner. We had dinner at Gruene River Grill which was really good! Afterwards we walked around and looked at all that Gruene has to offer. It's a pretty lively town! We found a few shops that were open and stopped at a few places that had live music. It turned out to be a surprisingly eventful evening!

Seriously good coffee!

My yummy dinner!

The view of the river from the restaurant.

They had pretty lights everywhere. Very romantic!

I loved the cool eclectic looking buildings!

On Saturday we drove out to Fredericksburg. The drive was scarier than we expected because it was all back roads full of curves and weird turns but we made it! We were plenty hungry when we got there so we knew our first stop had to be a good German restaurant! We stopped in at a place called Der Linderbaum and I got the weiner schnitzel and Jonathan got the sausage plate. It was so good I ate the whole thing! Ok maybe that normally might not be that big of a deal but it was seriously the most meat I'd eaten in one sitting since before I was pregnant. Delicious! From there we headed to the Pacific War museum since it was still raining some and it's a surprisingly famous museum. We had no idea how much they had there so we had to rush through some of it but it's really well done. I didn't realize how little I knew about the Pacific side of WWII and my grandfather was stationed in Okinawa during the war so it was really interesting to learn more about everything. We thought some of the museum was a little too much information overload and some parts went through things too quickly. We might suggest they make a few adjustments but overall it's a very well done museum. After we finished at the museum, the rain had passed and it was really beautiful outside. We had a little time before we planned on going to mass so we decided to browse a few stores. There's actually a lot to do in Fredericksburg and even more historical stuff we didn't get to see so we'll have to go back eventually. We went to church at St. Mary's which is one of the Hill Country's famous painted churches. It's a really pretty church but still feels quaint and homey. We were even asked to bring up the gifts. Made me feel special and was a first for us to do together. We still have firsts haha!

The museum had a gorgeous memorial courtyard area.

Plus really cool ship stuff from the war!

It's a really pretty area just to walk around even in drizzly weather.

The gorgeous church where we went to mass.

And just a little more German food before heading out!

On the last day of our trip we stayed in Canyon Lake, just relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful weather! We've been to Canyon Lake before but didn't see much of the scenery. The day was pretty much just relaxing and enjoying the scenery and awesome weather! Check out our pictures!

Figured we had to get in some belly pictures!

One of the parks is along the dam and it's a great walk with quite a view!

We tried to figure out a way to get all the way out there but were unsuccessful :-(

View to the left!

View to the right! Amazing!

 

There are deer everywhere in Canyon Lake!

We ended the trip with a very tasty meal at an Italian restaurant and I took absolutely no pictures lol. You'll just have to trust me! We headed back to Houston just after breakfast the next morning. The drive home wasn't the easiest because we were followed by a huge storm the entire time! We were very happy to get home safely and spent the rest of the evening sprawled out on the couch. We were so grateful for having this opportunity to take a trip before baby girl arrives. Things have been so busy with work, doctor appointments, classes, getting stuff for baby, etc, it was really great to have a long weekend to spend so much together time. Traveling will definitely be different with a kid but we're so excited to get to take our baby girl on trips. We want to show her the world and can't wait!

-Chelsey