Weeks 3-4 (Amy)

It's amazing how much time these little creatures require. I had the naive idea that maternity leave would be a productive time for me- clean the house, sort the finances, etc. Instead I'm lucky if I get a shower and three square meals. Alita hasn't changed much in the last few weeks, aside from growing out of her newborn onesies and establishing a rigid schedule with a 2-hour period of alertness smack in the middle of the night. That wouldn't be so bad if she didn't demand entertainment (read: walking/bouncing) during that time. Fortunately I have discovered that the entire works of Jane Austen on the public television channel can be successfully appreciated while pacing back and forth in front of the TV. We're working on a web photo album so those of you who just can't get enough baby pictures can see more- stay tuned.

Weeks 1-2

1/11/08 Alita's doing well. So far she excels at looking cute, gaining weight and detonating poo bombs, preferably just after she's been changed. We get 3 hours of sleep at a time at night, so we aren't too sleep-deprived just yet. Several people have asked how we came up with her name- we wanted to reference our shared Alaska history somehow, and Erik used to be a commercial fisherman on Kodiak Island, near a bay and cannery named Alitak. We simply took the "k" off the end and made it the first initial of her middle name. We figure "Al Attack" will be a darn cool roller derby name once she's big enough to play.

In the hospital (Erik)

Our new baby is here! After months of kicking Amy's ribs, our little girl decided the time was right. Amy was minding her own business Saturday night 12/29 when things started happening. We went to the hospital at 01:30AM and the baby was out by c-section less than 2 hours later! Erik announced that she didn't have any red hair but had instead thick, long, brown hair. 

Amy replied "nobody's perfect."

Little Alita helped wake us up in time to ring in the New Year. The next day, she got the OK to go home by her pediatrician, and off we went!