Grandparents, Belly Buttons and Cow Parades

Wow! It is hard to believe that it has been 2 weeks already since our blessed bundle of joy arrived! Parenthood has been such an amazing experience thus far. Sofia has made it quite easy and Chris and I have had incredible support from both friends and family. She is only waking up once or twice during the night - a true blessing for Chris and I. She has even reached her first milestone...her umbilical cord fell out and she has a belly button! It is truly the cutest "outie" ever. Needless to say, we are having a GREAT time playing with our new daughter and loving her more each and every minute.

Right after Sofia was born, we were lucky to have my mom come and stay for a week to help out around the house. She was such a treat helping with household stuff as well as changing/burping/feeding Sofia while I was still recuperating and Chris was at work. She even stocked our fridge with dinners for weeks to boot! Moms rock! :)

The day after Mom left, my dad and step-mom arrived to spend the long weekend. It was their first time out to our new place since we moved and so we had a fabulous time with them as well. While they were here, we took a trip to our little Stapleton town center and spent some time with the painted cows on parade. Chris and I have spent weeks making fun of them, but after walking through the parade actually had a good time and saw some pretty good artistic work! Go figure that bovine art could be interesting!

Alright, without further delay here are the much requested photos of Sofia. She is quite the character with lots of different faces despite her incredible ability to sleep! :) Enjoy!







Proud Daddy!

First Family Photo

Hmmm...Shouldn't Sofia be the one sleeping?

Grandma Debbie, Sofia and Me

Papou (Greekn for Grandpa)

Yia Yia (Greek for Grandma)

Cow parade!

At home and adjusting well...

Well we are all at home and adjusting well! Sofia was deemed fit to come home Wednesday night after all of her tests and check-ups. Mom was also doing well enough to come home and continue her recuperation. Grandma Debbie arrived Wednesday afternoon and has been a great help with diapers and burping. I decided to take Thursday and Friday off to help Sofia get used to her new home with new smells, sounds, and constant sniffing from Jack the Cat and Ms. Layla. Today the Hospital is sending out a nurse/lactation consultant to check in on Meg and Sofia. Just another amazing service provide by St. Joesph's Hospital and the L&D Department. Thank you all for your kind words in Sofia's first blog. Reading your comments made me cry knowing how much love there is in the world for her and our family. Here are some new pictures for your admiring eyes. In each picture she is either sleeping, praying, or tring to solve the problems of the world. What a sweet child.

Welcome to the world, Sofia Kathleen Daniel

Welcome to the world my sweet princess. You are a beautiful 5lb-15oz baby girl whose 18-3/4" stature will change the world. Your gorgeous brown hair and starry eyes will stun everyone who gazes upon you. Your parents, family, and friends will care and look over you with endless, unconditional love. We will do our best to make this world a better place for you, so you may grow in health, happiness, and love. This world is a wondrous place filled with people doing wonderful things. May you choose your own path of greatness, and know that your mother and I will always be behind you, supporting you at every fork in the road. May you choose the road less traveled, and show us all the way. Welcome to the world my sweet princess.

Quote of the Week

"Meghan! They look like they belong to another person!" This in response to showing my doctor my swollen hands, ankles and feet at my 9 month check up this afternoon.

It has been quite a whirlwind since our last post. When I was at my doc appointment last week Wednesday, it was confirmed that I was having contractions and was dialated already to 1 cm. This lead us into the immediate tailspin of trying to complete all our last minute to-do items and into a frenzy of excitement. Sunday, when my contractions started getting really close together, we called the doc and headed over to the hospital. After spending 5 hours there and no change they sent us home. We were sad but glad that the baby was doing really well and would still have some time to gain some more weight. The nurse at the hospital told us that when I "really hated Chris during my contractions" that we would know it was "almost time" for the baby to arrive. We laughed. Nice analogy by the nursing staff.

We both went to work this week feeling anxious, tired and wondering when this kid is going to show itself. With another appointment scheduled for today, we looked forward to hopefully finding out that something had changed to indicate progress. And it happened! I am now 3 cm dialated and my doc took me off of work. While it is not quite a predictor of when Baby D will arrive, it is definitely a sign that he/she is on the way much sooner than later! :)

Now to figure out what to do with all this time off!

Beer Anyone?

Hey, I take lots of time writing and even more time proof reading my poor spelling and I don't even get a comment from anyone? Not even from my beer buddies and not even from the folks? Either somnething else of importances is on his way fo people are stuck looking at my beautifyul wife! Anyway, its a good blog, check it out below...

Livin' Large...Literally

Oh the joys of pregnancy. 34 weeks and 5 days (That's just over 8 and 1/2 months for those of you who don't feel like counting.). It feels like just yesterday that we found out we were going to having a bouncing bundle of joy. Who am I kidding...It feels like 34 weeks and 5 days. :) As we embark on these last few weeks, I can't help but laugh at some of the odd things that have taken place. Here's just a small glimpse into what life has been like lately...



1) Cravings have become a little bit more frequent. They are odd though - I don't want certain foods at specific moments. It is more of a subconscious thing. For instance, I went to the grocery store to buy food to make for meals during the week. Some of the items I came home with were two boxes of cookies, brownie mix, ice cream, carmel and fudge sauces, cream cheese and 4 kinds of cereal. What I DIDN'T get: bagels to put the cream cheese on, meat or other mealtime substantials. I am not so sure I should be the one who does the shopping for a while.



2) I officially have lost my ankles and wrists. Where did they go? The wacky world of swelling has morphed the boniest parts of my body into pudgy stubs with no resemblence of their former life.

3) Huge blue wrist braces for carpel tunnel are definintely humbling. While, I am surely ready for roller blading at any time with these beasts on, they are seriously dorky. I can't even BEGIN to describe the hilarious comments that people have said to me at school. An added bonus: they're ambidextrous for those days that I really get swiss cheese brain!



4) I thought I would be at least 80 before my husband had to help me out of bed. Nope! 26 is the magic number! I can no longer roll out of bed on my own. With his hands on my derriere, he gives a little shove and it's off to the races. :) Does OXO make a human spatula?

5) I have always been known for creating lists of things to do, but 4 1/2 weeks before a child is coming into this world, my to-do list is RIDICULOUS! Anxious doesn't even scratch the surface for how excited we are but how insanely detailed in our to-do items for the next few weeks are.

6) Instead of Saturday afternoon college football games, we go to birthing classes and watch videos with couples from the '80's. While they are super informative and we love what we are learning, is it really necessary that we be subjected to not only outdated clothes but the moaning too? Just the hairstyles along make the movies scary!

7)The baby has dropped and as a result, my hugely expanded wardrobe of just a few weeks ago has dramatically dwindled once again. It's amazine how a simple shift in this bowling ball physique of mine causes only a few items of clothing to fit. Chris's sweatshirts and t-shirts have proved for excellent substitutes.



8) We are fantasy football addicts! I admit it, I completely made fun of Chris last year for being involved in a fantasy league, so I have definintely eaten some crow for joining my own league this year. However, Sunday mornings we sit together and get giddy over what quarterback or tight end to put on our rosters to earn the most points. We eagerly watch our stattrackers during the games and get excited over 10th's of points earned. It has been a great way to learn about football, but when it comes down to it.....IT'S FANTASY FOOTBALL! Yes, official dorkdom has been reached.

Great American Beer Festival - Denver Style

Greetings from the nations micro brewery capital. This weekend was Denver's turn to host the annual Great American Beer Festival at the Colorado Convention Center. It started Thursday night and went through Saturday night and every session was sold out.. Meg and I went with one of her co-teachers Carrie and her friend Chris. Later we met up with another co-teacher Lee-Ann and her husband Matt. I was extremely impressed with Carrie's knowledge of all types of beers and their history. She even volunteered at last year's gala.

There were breweries from all over the world here, each with their booths sampling some of their finest fermentations. Each "golden ticket" got the beholder a plastic 4oz glass and would go to each booth and get a 1oz sample from the volunteers. Each beer usually had a laminated description in front of it or the volunteer was knowledgeable about their menu. There was also a designated driver area with plush leather couches for the pregnant ladies, mothers/fathers with kids, or other sober people who needed a break. Meg and Lee-Ann were our DD's and really enjoyed the people watching. Groups of people dressed up with matching home-made beer slogan shirts and beer-themed outfits. There were plenty of pretzel necklaces for sale and more decorative ones people brought from home. I sampled some excellent stouts (really dark) and superb I.P.A.'s (stronger and lighter in color) from all over. The mid-west has a real strong showing and the south didn't have much that impressed me. There was one Hawaiian brewery that was medal winning and will be sold here soon....mmmmmm....beeeeeer. It was quite hilarious seeing the so-called judges stumbling around later as some of the booths were running out of beer.

This festival had record numbers and some of the breweries were not prepared, or the volunteers that got free drinks were giving out more than 1oz per pour. The cool thing was that you could have as much as you wanted at a booth, they could only give you 1oz at at time. Most people were like us and wanted to sample all different kinds. I had one beer that was espresso and jalepeno flavored and that took me by surprise. Sometimes even the witty names couldn't fully describe the wide variety of flavors and aromas. My favorite was a smooth vanilla stout that was so flavorful yet not too strong. I saw a lot of people wearing Bell's Brewery shirts from the great city of Kalamazoo, MI. Bell's is home of one of my favorite beers, Oberon (summer wheat). Its pretty hard to get too snochered off of 1oz of beer per sample, but some still managed. I was pretty good as one does get full from drinking some of the finer, darker, more filling beers.

Can't wait for next year festival, CHEERS!