A Week of Firsts

Yesterday we celebrated Kate's one week birthday.  It's amazing how fast it all went.  Clearly we were more excited about it than she was.

First trip to the pediatrician, Dr. Simons.

First nap in her moses basket.

First tour of her room.

First bath which she seemed to enjoy. Especially when daddy turned on the hairdryer.

First trip to our neighborhood park where she was assaulted by the family paparazzi.

And first visitors - Bruce and Carolyn Frey. Thanks for the macaroons. Daddy loves them!

Last but not least, first yoga session. I think she is in a deep OMMMM here.

Welcome Baby Kate

Katherine Stella Brown made her entry into the world at 8:07 PM on Tuesday, September 21.  She weighed in at 6lbs 11 oz, and was 20.5 inches.  From the picture below you can see that she did not enter quietly!

We were admitted to the hospital Monday night and after a long Tuesday we were so excited to finally be able to hold Kate.  Of course we fell in love immediately. 

Mia (that's my Mom) was there to greet her just minutes after her birth and was just as smitten as we were.

 

After several minutes of snuggling it was time for her first bath which I'm pretty sure she screamed through.

Once dressed, I was pretty happy and already trying to find my hands to suck on.  Why did someone cover them up?

Thanks to the great team who helped deliver Baby Kate into the world - Nurse Melissa, Dr. Fang, and the worthless med student Raphael.

 

We spent the next day and half in the hospital where Kate got a chance to meet her pediatrician, Dr. Simons who stopped by to check her out. 

Mia tried relentlessly to get a photo of Kate with her eyes open. Here's one of our best attempts.

Being foodies we were so excited about the 'Celebration Dinner' provided by the hospital. Ha! I'm not exactly sure I would have called it a filet and I don't think I got more than two pieces of portobello mushroom in that pasta. It did makes for some good laughs.

Is it legal to text while holding a baby?

Round 2 of paparrazi trying to get photos of Kate with her eyes open.

Finally it was time to go home and Kate ditched the hospital gown and put on some real clothes. Oh wait, that was me :-) Thanks to Colleen for the precious onesie and hat she went home in. Although she was mostly covered up in blankets!

Finally the car is packed and we are ready to roll. Drive slow Dad!

Ready to see her new home.

She promptly slept through the tour of the place but seems pretty happy in her Moses basket!

No rest of the weary. After a nap, we headed out to enjoy the amazing summer that had FINALLY arrived in San Francisco. I think Kate was just waiting for better weather. We made it two blocks and then headed home.

I think that's enough blogging for now. I'll add more pictures from her first days at home. Check back soon!

Due Date + 3 Days = Still Waiting

Many of you have been so kind to call, text, email to check in on Tater Tot's status so thought I would put an update on the blog.  Still no sign of baby yet.  We went in for an ultrasound and some testing yesterday just to make sure everything is still ok.  Tater Tot passed the tests but not after she made it clear that she is NOT a morning person (just like her parents!).  Part of the testing is to see the baby's movement and she pretty much snoozed through the whole event.  At one point the nurse used some type of noise machine to wake her up.  It was pretty hysterical, but it seemed to work until she fell back asleep!  She finally moved enough to please the nurse after she had to poke and shake my belly to get her to wake up again.  I told her that we could come back at 9:30 PM because that's when TT likes to party.  And just like clock work last night she was in full action mode!

Plan is still to be induced on the 21st unless she decides to come before then.  So in the meantime I started work on her baby book, ran more errands, and got to have a few more lunch dates.  Maybe she's just waiting for her Mia (my Mother) to arrive on Sunday. 

Final Countdown

We are in final countdown mode around the Brown household. Just playing the waiting game seeing when Tater Tot decides to make her grand entrance. Like a true celebrity I think she is going to be fashionably late. However she still has two days to prove me wrong! We took advantage of the nice weather today to get out and do what will most likely be our last hike pre-baby. TT enjoyed the hike, but I'm pretty sure she slept the whole way!

We have kept pretty busy the past couple months nesting and preparing for the little one. In early August we decided to take our last overnight trip and escape the frigid San Francisco 'summer' and headed north to the warmth. We spent two days in Ukiah which is north of Sonoma Valley and enjoyed the natural hot springs at Vichy Springs. In the picture below Tater Tot and I are enjoying the 'champagne' baths. They are called that because the water forms little bubbles all over your skin. Don't worry the temp was a cool 90 degrees just fine for me and little one.

We even got in a little hike to a small waterfall before heading home the next day. Perfect getaway before heading back to the fog and cold.

Tater Tot had some Texas visitors when dear friends Angela and Jana (aka Jangela - possible name for TT?!?!) came for a long weekend. We had a great time seeing some of the SF sites including driving down Lombard street.

On Saturday we headed north to wine country. Tater Tot enjoyed hanging out with the ladies at Iron Horse and a picnic at Armida. We even topped the evening with dinner at our favorite restaurant Zazu.

A trip to SF is not complete without visiting some of our favorite friends - the Pier 39 Sea Lions. While they are a bit smelly and noisy they sure are hysterical! Thanks for coming to visit Jangela!

In August our San Francisco friends threw us a joint baby shower with fellow parents-to-be Amy and Brian Crawford. It was such a fun day filled with great food, dear friends, and some fabulous original onesie designs. Thanks Freys, Bradys, and Kris and all our fabulous friends who helped celebrate our soon-to-be little one.

While there weren't any official shower games, we did force the fathers-to-be to get a little taste of what it would be like to be pregnant.  I think Stephen's going to need a bigger shirt!

The soon-to-be Moms.

Some of the great onsies that Tater Tot will be sporting around town soon.

In between all the fun we have made many Babies R Us and Target trips and feel that we are as ready as we can be for Tater Tot's arrival. Now we just wait and see what happens. While TT's official due date is Tuesday, if she decides she's just not ready to join us we have an induction scheduled for September 21st. We just can't wait to meet her!