happy birthday, dahlia!

happy birthday to dahlia jeanne kidd! we were blessed with her arrival at 4:15am on saturday, may 30, 2009 after 5 hours and 30 minutes of intense and beautiful labor. she wieghed in at 6 lbs, 10oz, and measured 21inches. we had such an amazing birth journey with our friends at the birth center, and literally could not have asked for things to go smoother!
the birth team...kate, griffin, mama (with dahlia's head peeping out), denise (my midwife), and carly (my birth nurse...her shirt says "trust birth"...amen!)
the exhausted angel asleep on mama...

first happy family shot in our suite at the birth center
ivy holds little sister for the first time...she was/is acutally remarkably gentle and sweet with dahlia. every little noise dahlia makes, ivy says "it's ok, dahlia" and kisses her. she is constantly wanting to hold, tickle, and pat her little sis...we could not ask for her to be more welcoming! she is an amazing big sister!

with auntie megan

ivy & daddy having some lunch in the kitchen at the birth center...ivy showing her enthusiasm for the mac & cheese!
we spent much of the afternoon in the birth center's garden - it was a positively gorgeous day & i felt like the most blessed woman on the planet, with my wonderful hubby and two gorgeous, healthy daughters!
ivy also loved running from one end of the garden to the other...note her stylin' hipster boots - when we dropped her off at megan and peter's, i forgot to pack/leave shoes, so these were borrowed from tristan!
12-hour-old toes...scrumptous beyond compare...

what could melt a mama's heart more than this? (not much...)

things to do while (still) pregnant...

1. bake rhubarb things...since our CSA (community supported agriculture - we city folks buy a share of weekly organically-produced fruits & veggies from area farmers - fresh, yummy produce!) provided us with rhubarb this last shipment and i had NO CLUE what to do with it, i sent a hasty e-mail recipe request out to some of my aunties in wisconsin, and boy, they did not disappoint! this one (courtesy of aunt judy) is "rhubarb dessert." Y-U-M...i am hoping for more rhubarb in the next few shipments (griffin and ivy would second and third that!) just so i can make this again, but i want to know...who is the person who first thought "hey, let's throw down some marshmallows and then a bunch of rhubarb, and then, i don't know how about some jello and maybe some half-and-half and then let's stick some cake mix on top of that mess and bake it all up nice and see what happens?"...god bless the midwest. (and again, YUM!)


2. wash your car with your almost-two-year-old...be sure to do it in a sexy old ripped up shirt...hey maybe if you keep squatting getting those rims cleaned, it'll induce labor (it didn't)...but SERIOUSLY, ivy squealed with delight the ENTIRE time! afterwards i fed her lunch, and by the end she was falling asleep in her high chair - from there it was upstairs for a THREE-HOUR nap! can't complain about any of that now, can i?

the high mistress of the hose, once again
3. go out for dinner (and, more importantly, ice cream!!) with your family...marvel and thank god for your well-behaved daughter who ate her broccoli with the same amount of gusto as her ice cream...seriously, you wouldn't know which she prefers more!

4. admire the cuteness of your extremely cute 21-month old (tomorrow!) daughter!























5. get belly/youngest daughter tickled by oldest daughter (one of ivy's current fave pastimes)
6. have oldest daughter give raspberries to youngest daughter via belly (again, one of ivy's current favorite things!)
7. be the lucky recipient of sweet boo bear kisses

8. (g wouldn't allow photography of this, but the secret's out...)...have sweet & amazing hubby scrub, exfoliate, pumice & massage your tired feet

9. spend unholy amounts of time on facebook to keep mind off of not being in labor

10. give thanks for my amazing family...not such a bad way to wait for the wee one's arrival, i'd say. :)

meet the birth team...

just in case you had forgotten who was responsible for creating this sweet life in the first place...kit & kat (and god!) and just in case anyone was wondering, griffin is the not only the most wonderfully loving, nurturing and supportive husband and father ever, he is an incredible birth partner...we are hoping that he will be able to catch (midwife-speak for "deliver," which, as any mom knows, is actually the MOM'S job) little sister (with the midwife's help) as she makes her entrance.
get a picture of that, you say? enter auntie kate...(pictured here with a smaller ivester)...amazing friend, awesome mama, amateur photographer, and soon to be midwife-in-training (go kate!!)...seriously, what more could a laboring mama want? kate will be my second support person/photographer/all-around gofer. most of you either know kate b/c you live close by or met her at griffin and my wedding (she was also one of my bridesmaids).
...but where will ivy be?...why, with auntie megan (pictured here with ivy's cousin/brother/boyfriend tristan) and all three of the bridge/price gang (peter, megan and tristan), who will be playing the VERY important role of ivy's drop-off family...they have graciously volunteered to watch ivy at their home during little sister's birth and then bring her out to the birth center (www.thebirthcenter.org if you'd like to see where we are planning on little sister's arrival) to meet her little sister afterward. how great is that? shelley (not pictured here, but known to most as ivy's wonderful caregiver) is our emergency back-up, if for some reason the bridge/price gang is otherwise indisposed. by the way, both kate and megan get teary quite regularly when talking about said birth and meetings afterward, so i know they're both perfect for their jobs. in all seriousness though, i feel QUITE blessed to be surrounded and nurtured by such amazing people at such an incredible time. i hate being so far from my biological family, but friends like this (and ALL of our amazing friends around here...you know who you are!) make it soooooo much easier!

WE ARE READY FOR YOU, LITTLE SISTER! WE LOVE YOU AND CAN'T WAIT TO MEET YOU! xoxoxoxo