[not the] BEST BLOG EVER

Did You Know?

Today's random fun fact, as emailed to me by my random fun mother, this morning:

At five minutes and six seconds past 4 a.m. today, it was 04:05:06 07/08/09.

Family Resemblences

I think it's somewhat hilarious and awesome that my half-Korean son looks a lot like my German/Norwegian father's baby pictures. I don't see much of myself in Park, although I do claim the chin and perhaps the mouth... But instead mostly Park gets called "Little Anthony-Face" or "Little Twon," but check out this collage my dad made recently of his and Park's baby pictures.

Same round Zimmerman/Kallevig heads (as they are known in my family) and noses, I think. Guess I am in there somewhere!

Here is another fun collage of a few of my and Anthony's baby pictures, with Park's.

Good times with the Korean/German/Norwegian in all of us!

Hello, Pre-Pregnancy Jeans...

Thank you, Spanx.

Smileys

Okay... And despite what I said below, here are a couple awake shots. I dare you to not smile when you look at these. Happy baby!

 

A Confession

It hit me earlier this week: I own -- because once upon a time I purchased -- an $80 hairbrush.

Yes, it's true. Isn't that ridiculous? In my defense, I had a gift certificate to the salon and I used it to buy the brush, and it was years ago when I was in my wild and reckless (ahem - not really) mid-20s -- and I was single, gainfully employed, supporting my church, etc. LOL. But still. $80 for a hairbrush? What was I thinking? I should KNOW my self-styling never turns out like the stylist's, even with a tool that practically requires a mortgage to own it. (Although it does help on those wild fly-away days, I must admit.)

Anyway, I was thinking about this because now, having a child, Anthony and I are all the more careful with our purchases. Diapers and wipes are a significant investment and will be for the next few years. I have been nursing, but soon enough Park will be on some formula as well, and that is of course quite expensive. Not to mention daycare, clothing (he has already grown out of all his newborn clothes), and pretty soon he'll need a Wii and a car. Yikes!

None of this is bad. In fact, I'd argue it's good to be more careful with purchases in terms of assessing need vs. want. Good discipline. Right? No more $80 hairbrushes? Right. After all, one should be enough. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Speaking is said child, here are a few more pics. I should get some with him awake, shouldn't I? Well, these are easier for now.

 

It's Not the End (of Beth's Blogs)

There are lots of bloggity post topics floating around in my little head these days. However, spare time, spare energy and spare brain power are not attributes I possess in much quantity given the new little resident of our home and hearts! But for my three or four faithful readers, please don't give up on da blog. Slowly but surely, life is starting to settle in to - dare I say it - a routine, at least of sorts. I will be back to blogging regularly soon. I enjoy it too much to say goodbye. Consider this merely a loose blogging sabbatical.

One thing I can do is link you to my husband's blog. He has written some fun posts about Park, and I find them - and him - quite charming. Start here and work your way up. (Consider all those posts about the Minnesota Twins just an added bonus!) Seeing Anthony evolve into daddyhood has been awesome.

And lastly, I leave you with a few pics of our little punkin. He melts me.

 

How to be Smarter than your Three-Week Old Son

It may be time to invest in something like this.

(p.s. Thanks to Sally for showing me this link and awesome web site.)

Park's Birth Story

Some of you have been asking about this, so feel free to read on if this info is interesting to you. If not, no worries about skipping it!

I was due on May 8 and since I was very uncomfortable and have a very cool doctor, she scheduled to induce me on Wednesday, May 13. However, at 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning, I woke up with really bad back pain and also to find that my water had broken. This was actually a big answer to prayer, because my preference was to go into labor naturally rather than to be induced.

I got Anthony up and after the final packing details and rushing around, we were to the hospital by about 4:30 or 5 a.m. A very strange, surreal feeling walking in through the quiet ER door and up to Labor & Delivery, knowing THIS WAS IT.

They admitted me and hooked me up to all the monitors and confirmed my water had, indeed, broken. (Duh.) I did still need pitocin to augment the contractions, and then the real fun began. OUCH. Contractions HURT, ya'll. At one point I said something like the following to Anthony, "I do NOT like contractions." He laughed and said that was the quote of the day.

By about 7:00 I was in real pain and - yes - opted for pain meds. Not ashamed to admit it. I got NuBain and man oh man, was it wonderful. Yes, heavenly. And I should say that before that point, Anthony was an amazing trooper and extremely helpful as I tried to manage through the contractions. I think his hand is still sore from where I was squeezing it and from where he had to massage my back!

After the NuBain, I then lightly slept through the next couple hours, which was great because my body needed to just relax and do its thing to get to the next stages of labor.

By the time it wore off around 11 a.m., I was finally more dilated (to 2 cm) and needed a stronger pain med option. I opted for the epidural, and again - heavenly. I lightly slept again through the contractions and again it was what my body needed to progress. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. I went from 2 cm to 10 cm, and then it was time to push!

I pushed for 50 minutes and Park was born at 3:01 p.m. Pushing was difficult; I'm glad I didn't have to do it for longer. Again, though, Anthony was amazing and the nurse and my doctor were also rock stars... I am very blessed with what was an uncomplicated and relatively easy delivery. PTL!

The Love of my Life...

The love of my life is still my amazing husband, Anthony Jacob Hilden. However, coming in at a close second these days is a new little man we've met recently...

Introducing Park Jacob Hilden.

Park arrived on to the scene on May 13, 2009, at 3:01 p.m. Key stats = 8 pounds, 3 ounces, 21 inches long. Beautiful, dark hair and large hands, long fingers, 10 of them, 10 adorable toes. In short, he is perfect.

In the week+ in which we've gotten to know him, we've discovered a sweet, calm, even-tempered baby. He's a great eater and sleeper already, much to my delight as a girl who likes her sleep herself. He cries when he's hungry, or cold, or needs to be changed, but that's about it, as far as we can tell. He puts himself to sleep after feedings. He looks at us with intelligence and we wonder what he's thinking in all his baby wisdom. He makes delightful funny faces when he's eating or working on a dirty diaper.

We love everything about him and can't imagine that the Lord has chosen us to be his parents. What an amazing blessing that we are not really truly able to comprehend! We love Park more than we ever knew we could.

When the first baby laughed for the first time, the laugh broke into a thousand pieces and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies. ~J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

 

I am fearfully and wonderfully made. ~Psalm 139:14

 

Golly...

I need to blog. Soon and very soon!