3 Weeks and then some...

Our little one is just over three weeks old! This week's big news is that she is getting chubby! Well, relatively speaking, that is. :) In two weeks she has gone from 6 lbs, 7 oz. to 7 lbs, 12 oz.!! That's over an ounce a day! We've definitely noticed that her legs and arms have thickened a little and she even has a little bit of a double chin! And she is almost fitting in her "newborn" size clothes now. Way to eat, Gigi!
We had a nice Memorial Day weekend with my parents camping up here at the beach and we can't wait for David's parents & sis to come visit later this week.
Your most recent installment of pictures is just 2 clicks away- 2 new photosets; we hope you enjoy looking at Gianna's cute face as much as we do!
Memorial Day Wknd photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bennettars/sets/72157600287699045/
More pics from Gigi's 3rd week:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bennettars/sets/72157600288541310/

Two weeks old!

It's hard to believe that Gigi is already 2 weeks old! The last few weeks of my pregnancy went by so slow as we waited for her, and now that she's here, time is really going by quickly. Maybe that's partly because most of our days have been pretty monotonous- sleep, feed her, wait a couple of hours, feed her again, repeat. David said it's been a little "Groundhog Day-ish." But the last few days we've starting doing a little more, and it's been really fun. We've gone on walks and visited with some friends, and it's been good to get out of the house a little.
Gigi had her first doctor's appointment this past week and she had already gained back her birth weight, plus 1 oz (she also peed and projectile pooped while naked on the scale!). She's a good eater! She's also a good sleeper! We are soooo thankful that she has been sleeping for longish chunks of time at night, and we are praying that with God's help, she keeps it up!
Here are some more cute pictures for your viewing pleasure... we still can't get over how cute she is.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bennettars/sets/72157600241756228/

Thanks, Yaya!

My mommy & daddy and I just wanted to give a big shout-out to my Yaya, and thank her for staying with us for my first week. She helped us all out so much and held me and loved me a lot. She even sewed me a couple of blankets and a cute caddy for my room! I had a fun time with her, and I can't wait to see her again soon!
By the way, "Yaya" means "grandma" in Greek for those of you who didn't know! My mommy had a Yaya too, and now I do!
~Gigi

Week One in the Books

So it was one week ago this morning that we met Gianna for the first time. I will consider the fact that she is still doing well to be the first major parental milestone for me and Nicole. It is still amazing to Nicole that just over a week ago she was very great with child and now we have this sweet baby in our house.

We brought her home from the hospital last Wednesday. Nicole's mother, Karen, stayed with us all last week and she just headed home this afternoon. She was a great help with cooking, cleaning, laundry, baby care, and much more. We took her out for the first time today when we took Karen out to Rubio's for lunch. Gigi ordered the fish tacos combo and savored every bite of it (at least that's what she was dreaming about while she slept through lunch).
Our second parental milestone consisted of getting our little baby wet while she protested at the top of her lungs. She will thank us later for the great foundation we're setting for her personal hygiene. I get the feeling that she'll enjoy the real bath better than the sponge bath. By the way, she is almost ready for the real bath since her umbilical cord fell off this morning.

We had a pleasant Mother's Day yesterday with Nicole's family. Nicole's dad was here in the morning - he left around lunch time because he was coming down with a cold. Our good friends David L. and Beth E. Dear came over for an early dinner and we BBQed some steak. It was really special for Nicole that Gianna came just in time for Mother's Day. I did not get to see my mother but I had a nice conversation with her on the phone. Gigi can't wait to meet her Granny and Grandpa (my parents) when they come out from Chicago in a few weeks.
I have uploaded some more pictures to flickr that include but are not limited to the events detailed in this account. For your viewing pleasure: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bennettars/sets/72157600215659795/

Stay tuned for some more updates...

Gianna Brianne

I am proud to introduce you to Gianna Brianne Bennett. She arrived very early on Monday, May 7 at 1:34 a.m. Nicole and I showed up at the hospital around 7 p.m. on Sunday night after we had walked over 10 miles in the previous three days. Nicole was dilated to 4 cm when we checked in so the nurse had us walk around for an hour in the hospital (we were very familiar with the maternity ward after that hour). While we were walking, the nurse spoke with Nicole's doctor and they decided to admit her.

She continued having contractions for the next few hours and her water suddenly broke around 11:45 p.m while I was on the phone with Nicole's mom. The contractions progressed rapidly after that and at 1:34 a.m. on Monday morning we got to meet our precious Gigi. Nicole was amazing as she went through all the pushing and contractions without any medication! As a result of that, all the nurses have said that she is pretty alert and is breastfeeding well for a baby as new as she is.
She has beautiful eyes and huge feet and hands. She is pretty much the most beautiful baby ever. God's miracle of child birth is amazing - for those of you who have witnesses it yourself I'm sure you understand. I am so proud of Nicole for being so strong and I am so blessed to have a precious, healthy baby. And for those of who are dying to know...I am doing well :) In the photo below, Gigi is doing her best pirate impression (one eye is closed and the other is open).
I have created a photo set on flickr for you all to enjoy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bennettars/sets/72157600193794512/

We will continue to update the blog and photos as Gigi grows!

-New Dad

Let's get it started..

I went to the doc this afternoon and I'm now 3 cm. dialated! She said that it shouldn't take more than 4-5 days now, so hopefully she's right! We're going to keep up with the walking, and see what happens. Contractions are still pretty irregular, but are occasionally a little stronger.
Please pray for a safe and easy delivery! Thankfully, my doctor is on-call this weekend; she only is on-call every 5th weekend, so it's nice to know that if I have the baby in the next few days we get to have our doctor deliver her.

Waiting (im)patiently

I'm about 38 1/2 weeks now... I've been having stronger contractions the last couple of days, but they are still very irregular- sometimes close together, sometimes very spaced out. I go to the doc tomorrow afternoon, so hopefully I will have made some progress in the dialation category.
We're still trying to do a lot of walking-- went to the beach on Monday, and last night we had a nice dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (we had to bring dessert home because dinner was so good!), and then walked around the mall a little and around our housing complex too.

I also wanted to post some pictures from this season's first baseball games! We've been to 2 Dodger games (one with my brother & cousins), and an Angel game with one of David's old co-workers, Wes & his fiancee, Daphnie, and we met Dodger Andre Ethier and got his autograph at a furniture store (after waiting in line for 2 hours!)-- he was really nice.

Oh, and for those of you tracking David's spectacular radio-prize-winning skills, you can add one more to the list, and this one might top them all (even the $400/ea Dodger Dugout Club seats). Yesterday morning David won 2 tickets to ANY regular-season sporting event in the contintental U.S. and 2 round-trip plane tickets to go with it! We're contemplating going to a Red Sox/Yankees games at Fenway Park in September, but haven't decided yet for sure.