Welcome BabyMoon

4 weeks early, 4 hours of labor (no more than 45 minutes of that at the hospital)

Welcome Cael Rowan McFarland
born June 3, 2008 12:26am
6 lbs, 4 oz 20" long

Healthy and all natural :)

I don't have the camera cord here at the hospital (but I do have wi-fi and Matt's computer) so here's a photo taken a couple minutes ago from my cell phone :)


Welcome to the world, Baby Moon!


More to come. :)

Has it been almost a month?

Mini updates before I go to work:

New measurements 43" bust, 46" at belly button, 47 1/2 " waist
Very prominent belly. Activity noted at least every 2 hours, more at night, definitely reliable after I've eaten and responds to localized taps 1/3x. Sciatica still an issue, but manageable. Reflux tolerable and not as frequent. Warm water exercise class 2x/week plus walks when able. (though there is pain with walking too much, especially after work). 4 weeks of school!! 9 weeks or so of pregnancy!

Had a lovely chat with my sis Jenn last night. Wish I could say I was weighing the pros/cons of her trying to make it for the baby's birth. For me there aren't any cons. ;) For her there are considerations of expense, travel time and how do you plan a trip around the world to coordinate when a baby will be born?, plus considerations for Brian's feelings re: him not being able to come on that trip and weighing the importance of being here at the birth or around the birth vs just waiting another 3 months to see us when they both can be here. *sigh*
I'd love to her to be here, baby or not to have the sisterly bonding time and the chance for her to be part of my birthing team, but it's a long way to come, I know.
More as that develops.

In other news,...
Matt graduates Saturday May 10th with his MA in Speech and Language Pathology!
Seems like a long time coming and yet here already! I'm so very proud of him. He's been diligent with his school work, committed to starting a new career and really enjoying most of it. (aside from some school-related drama)

OMG I bought a yellow shirt!

When I was pregnant with Teagan, I had an OMG moment when I bought and frequently wore a pink shirt. ME! In pink! But it just seemed right. Friday I stopped to pick up white & black tank tops (essential for the layering trend) and was compelled to buy this yellow shirt! ME! Yellow!
I think the only other shirt I own that is yellow is the jersey from the Richfield CornRide I did many years ago. But there it is!

Also, as seen above, I've discovered how to use the timer on my camera to take self-portraits. Next time I will place it on something a little more level and maybe a little further away.
Just for comparison sake (please take distance into consideration...haha) I've decided to look back at pregnancy pics from before Teagan arrived. The one below is August 4, 2004 which would have been 2 months before she was born and about 14 weeks from her due date. Right about the same as for BabyMoon now (I'm 28 weeks). Personally I don't think I look that bad for 3 1/2 years and a toddler later, but I DO look "full of baby!" That's for sure!

Meanwhile, Teagan has finished her gymnastics class. We were allowed in for parent visitation the last session and I took pictures, but trying to get a good pic in the gym didn't work all that well. If I'd realized that when I tweaked them on the computer they'd be alright, I'd have been more persistent. She's not going to continue with gymnastics though; she's just not all that interested though I do think she's improved in her attention, ability to follow directions in a classroom setting and overall strength and coordination. I left the decision to her. She did start her swim lessons the next morning and is very excited about that class. I feel firmly that swim lessons are a life skill and not an option for my children so that worked out well. :)


So instead I got all nostalgic and posted a few pictures of Teagan when she was 3 weeks old. I had a moment the other day holding Gavin when the reality of a REAL little baby in our very-near future set in. SOON, we'll have another one of these in our house!!



Hopefully slightly bigger to start. :) Below was our comparison photo so you know JUST how little Teagan was. It'll be exciting to have another baby at home, but I sure am glad Teagan's the big girl she is now. :)

Coronado's Peak

Monday: Matt, Teagan and I went into town for breakfast at the local coffee shop. Jess & Autumn were off work and school at noon on Mondays but we mostly hung around the house and played games and so forth. No pictures.

Tuesday: After waiting for the plumbers to come fix the drains that were not working, Jess, Matt, Teagan and I drove up to Coronado National Park for a little desert mountain hike. Gorgeous. Mid-70's and sunny. We didn't have a whole lot of time before we had to pick up Autumn from school but it was well worth the trip. :) Jess was again gracious enough to be Teagan's buddy so I could take pics.

Latest profile.... 25 1/2 weeks!

Tuesday night (our last night in town) we went to a little Mexican restaurant in Old Bisbee and for ice cream. Then home for a little Wii action. :)
Here's a photo of the Hartley Clan....

and...

Our little cowgirl! :)

Easter Sunday

So then we flew off to Arizona. 3 hours to Houston, 2 1/2 hours from there to Tucson and then a 1 1/2 hour drive down to Bisbee. Boy, it was a long trip. We finally arrived at 11:30pm their time, which I believe is about 2:30am our time. It was well worth it though. When asked where we were going on vacation Teagan was equally apt to say "to Easter!" as she was to say "to Arizona!".

After a good night's sleep, we got up early (6am Tucson-time early), hunted easter baskets (or bag in Teagan's case...made packing easier), had some yummy breakfast and waited for the neighbor kids to come over. Jess and I hid 107 eggs in the backyard. The girls down the road (transplanted friends from Massachusetts) are aged 6 to 10 years, so with Teagan at 3 and Autumn at 13 years old, we had quite the span, but they all got along great and had lots of fun!The Girls

My Girl.
Stopped to pose for a picture mid-egg hunt :)

The Loot.
In addition to candy and small toys in some of the eggs there, Jess also put numbered papers in and had a prize table the girls got to raid.

And then there was Clay-o-Rama

Teagan's monster of "9"..her favorite number. So 9 legs and 9 eyes, but it was a good monster so it threw heart-shaped missles :)

Later that night, Jess & Pat took us to Old Bisbee for a little walk-around. Quaint artist's colony and old mining town.

Thanks Jess for keeping watch on Teagan!

And so went our Easter Sunday

Time Flies....Easter Saturday

I was going to post pictures of the near-blizzard and sticker fun on my belly but in the interest of staying current...I'll put up the latest pictures from Easter and our trip to Arizona.
Matt's mom hosted an Easter brunch on Saturday before we had to get to the airport. It was a white Easter, but full of warmth and family-fun indoors. My folks, Keith, Liz, Gavin and Aunt Leah came over to celebrate.

The Easter Bunny...aka Teagan...had lots of fun finding the eggs around the living room and opening them to find all sorts of surprises. She has three baskets of goodies too! (2 from Nana and 1 from Grammy)
Baby Gavin is getting so big! He's 8-months old already and does a stellar job sitting up and scooting around on his belly. :) Here he is with Daddy Keith. There was some discussion at dinner about which cost more, Gavin's CK jeans or Keith's shirt. :) (they were trying to prioritize which to try to save from the mushy bananas) And for those who can't see the details, but would appreciate it, that's a Mickey Mouse onesie :)
A daunting task indeed....trying to get Gavin and Teagan looking in the same direction at the same time. :) Ah well. Here's the best I've got.
Sue has a glass dining room table. Here's a picture Matt took of Teagan underneath and her new favorite face to make :) Ferocious, eh?

Teagan had been greatly anticipating Easter, what with eating bunnies and dyeing and finding eggs and so forth....her only disappointment was that it only lasted two days. She would rather it still be Easter :) In fact when we were in Arizona she kept saying "When we get back home, it'll be Easter and we'll look for eggs...."

From the News Files

This was passed along to me and I pass it along to you....
It's not common, but it exists and frequently misdiagnosed.

FOREWARNED IS FOREARMED - We NEED to know this..... I didn't know

(IBC) Inflammatory Breast Cancer news story

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmP5QuGc-PE

INFLAMMATORY BREAST CANCER

Very aggressive breast cancer, not detected by a lump AND NOT detected by regular mammograms. Many doctors think it is just a bug bite or something and by the time you know its not the chance of survival is very low. Please watch the quick video.....it is worth your time.