One Week!

Mazie's mom here.

Mazie is one week old today. So hard to believe that only seven days ago this little one was in my belly. What a week it's been. Mazie is an absolute dream -- she eats, sleeps, has long periods of "quiet alertness" where she just sits and observes the world around her.... People told me before she was born that there wasn't any way to describe how I would feel about her, and it's definitely true. I'm just overwhelmed by how much I love this little being. We spend hours just staring at her tiny face. As a testament to my obsession with all of her little facial expressions, we did a little "photo shoot" this morning. Here are a few of the pictures, and I've made a new picasa album with more of them here.

Mazie James Dickinson

I'm here!!!!

I'm a girl!!!

I'm pretty cute!!!

(You can see more pictures of me if you click on the slideshow on the right.)

My stats:
Born May 23, 2008 at 10:32 pm
7 lbs., 5 oz.
19 5/8 inches long

I came home from the hospital on Sunday morning and met my animal brother (dog Wiley) and sisters (dog Roxie and cat Bailey). They think I smell interesting.

So far the world is a pretty nice place. I haven't seen a lot of it... mostly I've been sleeping while my parents stare at me in wonder....

The Real Thing?

Or a false alarm?

That's what Mom is wondering right now. She's been having pretty consistent but painless contractions for the past week or so. Last night they got a little closer together but were still barely even uncomfortable. But early this morning she woke up and they felt distinctly different. For the past couple of hours they've been coming every 4-7 minutes and are mildly to moderately painful.

Is today my big day, or is this still part of the warm up? Stay tuned....

Beautiful Mommy

Mom and Dad and Laura Reedy, one of Dad's students and soccer players, went to the Eno River to take some pictures of me and Mom while I'm still inside. We have to wait a while to get the super fancy pictures back from Laura, but Dad took a few with the digital camera. Mom is so beautiful...thanks to me.

Full Term!!

I'm 37 weeks old today and officially full term! That means my little lungs and other organs are mature enough for life outside the womb... but Mom and Dad are hoping I'll be patient and stick around in here a little longer.

Mom's getting pretty big! She added a May picture to the photo gallery-- you can look at it by clicking on the pictures to the right. This weekend she'll be graduating from Duke with her Ph.D. Good thing those graduation robes are so roomy!

Papa Steve is coming to visit for graduation. Last time he saw Mom I was only 10 weeks old and the size of a blueberry. My how we've grown since then! I'm excited to give Papa a few kicks from in here... next time he sees us I'll get to kick him for real, and maybe even spit up on him too!! Oh, I have such big plans for this world....

Updates...

Wow, what a busy few weeks! Dad and his friend Andrew celebrated their shared birthday on March 21 (Dad drank a lot of beer... Mom had a virgin strawberry dacquiri). Avia Tracy, Uncle Logan, Grandpa Gil, and Nana Christina all came to visit us. Mom defended her dissertation, and is now Dr. Mom (she may or may not insist that I call her that). And then I took my first international trip-- Mom, Dad, and I spent a week in the Cayman Islands! Mom got a little glimpse into what my life is like, since she spent most of the week marinating in warm water-- snorkeling in the Caribbean, floating in the pool, and lounging in the jacuzzi tub. She sure seemed relaxed.... I hope she and Dad enjoyed their quiet vacation together-- I was pretty low maintenance on this trip, but probably won't be as easy the next time we all travel together!

Here are a few pictures from our trip:
Meanwhile, I've been working hard on growing and getting ready for my quickly approaching "coming out" party. I'm a little over 33 weeks old now, meaning that I could really show up anytime between 4 and 9 weeks from now. Actually, I've got my birthday all picked out... but the rest of you will have to wait a while to find out what it is!

Happy Birthday Miles

My friend Miles just turned 1. He got cake. Mom gave me some too. His parents Bryon and Alli are feeding him and Tobin's dad, Matt, is doing the video taping.