Amelia is growing!!!!

I'm sitting at the dining room table at our Palm Desert house. Straty and his parents are watching a movie. I'm eating a pot pie and drinking a nasty Miller Lite beer. It's part of my nursing, along with Fenugreek and Blessed Thistle herb vitamins. Amelia and I went back to the Lac lady for a follow up. We are still having challenges with nursing. I'm able though to provide to her via pump. Those mothers who have pumped, will know what I'm talking about it...did your pump ever talk to you? Mine has said, "Way to go...way to go" or "way to pump...way to pump" and some days it says "Bloody Hell....Bloody Hell..." Over and over and over!!!! for 15 to 20 minutes every 2 to 3 hours! Amelia is eating every well. She weighs 10.5 pounds. Sadly she has bad gas issues and hick-ups. The gas makes her very fussy. Doc gave me a list of things NOT to eat, one being garlic. The things you give up for your little one:)

The desert house closes escrow on the 17th! It has gone by so fast! It's a bitter sweet good-bye. We've already planned our first family outing in Goldie, the trailer. Pismo Beach! We're very excited.

Better go..baby calls. XOXOX

Smile in in the sunshine

YaYa and Papou are coming!

YaYa and Papou is Grandma and Grandpa in Greek. Straty's parents are on there way to meet their little Amelia! Amelia is dressed in pink with orange flowers and poka dots! She's napping now, awaiting their arrival. She's been up and alert all day! The book says week 3 is a growing spurt. I don't know if she's growing in size, but she sure is growing in attitude as well as her vocal cords! She's eating more these past few days too, which is wonderful! She's such a good baby girl. I still stare at her and smother her in kisses. Today she was calm laying on her changing table while I took a million pictures of her. She reached out her right hand and touched my nose! Tears filled my eyes as we gazed at each other. She gave a cute little smirk and my heart dropped. I'm so in love!!!!

God is so GOOD! Straty had mentioned in an email to some of you that we sold our Palm Desert House. It's a bitter sweet sale. We had almost 15 years of parties, relaxing and total fun. If everything turns out good, escrow closes on February 20th. We'll be out those last two weekends! Stop in and sit on the patio one last time, if you're in the area:) Our bring a sleeping bag! Like Straty said it's the ending to an Era. We had many wonderful memories. Now with Amelia, we'll make more in our Vintage trailer Goldie!!! When I was a kid, our trips were camping. Places like Lake of the Woods, Lake Michigan and Estes Park Colorado. Those were some of my finest childhood memories. Straty, Amelia and I will have many adventures. Oh, don't forget Hazel May, Miller Lite and Indi! Indi is getting very old though, but he's a trooper. Lots of fun....

I hear some grunting...I better go see what Miss Piggy is doing:) XOXOXXO

Her stats...

11 days old, weighing in at 8.12 pounds, standing tall at 21 1/4", and carrying a brilliant brain in a 15" head! She's the one and only...Greek-German, with light brown reddish hair, blue eyes (for now:)) light olive skin, and the longest arms and legs, she's a cutie folks....with it looks like an outie belly button....(she lost her cord cap yesterday).........Miss Amelia Marie!!!! Doc says she's passed her first milestone...her nutrition test. Doc also confirmed she has a clogged tear duct, which could take a month or a year to get rid of. No more meds, just massaging the area.

As for mommy, she's still hiding in her cave waiting for results:) Once again a lab rat, trying every trick to increase the milk supply. I'm sticking with what the specialist said and Dr. May's greatest advise...PRAY!!! I was told once again, my only job right now is to feed and care for little missy and myself. I'm trying to relax, really I am...it's really, really hard. I know I'm putting too much pressure on myself. Straty is so supportive! Poor guy...I'm sure I drive him crazy, one minute I'm good and the next I'm crying. What the crap! It will all pass, I know.

Uh-oh, I'm hearing growling in the car seat. She's picking up some tricks from the hounds! We just came home from the doctor. She's hungry, of course!

Happy Birthday Nelson and Vinnie... the big 40!!!!!!!! XOXOXOXO

GO PATS.

One week later...

It's been over a week since our little Amelia has entered the world. I was holding her yesterday at 5:13pm, exactly one week, looking down onto her face and tears of Joy rolled down my face. I can't believe she's ours. I can't believe we have a baby girl. I praised the Lord over and over. She has been such a good baby girl. She sleeps a lot, even through feedings, and pretty on track with eating. Mom is here for a couple days, and it's been wonderful. I thought I had things organized before Amelia moved in, but of course with a little one, always be open to change. We re-organized the nursery and organized other parts of the house.

We did have to make an unexpected trip to the doctor today. Amelia woke up with gunk in her eye. Doc says she has symptoms of a small case of pink eye or a clogged eye duct. Either way, she's medicated and taking it like a champ. She weighs 8 pounds 10 ounces now! YEAH!!!! Go feedings!!!! That BTW was a bit challenging over the weekend, but we're doing very well, me, the girls and Amelia:)

Amelia is anxious to meet her YiaYa and PaPoo Hadjiyannis (hopefully I spelled it right) who arrive January 30th! She also can't wait to cheer on her team...GO PATRIOTS!!!!

Everyday is a wonderful blessing! XOXOXXO

Back to Work

Well, the week was great spending a lot of time holding and rocking Amelia. Jenny has been amazing in the feeding department our little stinker has taken to it pretty quickly. We have found our favorite positionon the coach with her on my legs rocking back and forth. She's a sweetie

Daddy's Thoughts

I was lucky to be a part of this amazing experience that has blessed our lives. I have seen how our family and friends are excited for us and support us more than I could have ever imagined. My role in this incredible event was nothing compared to what my beautiful wife had to endure.

Thank goodness the baby has her good looks and my height because if it was inversed we would have had a short goofy looking baby instead of the long legged beauty. I will be suprised if the hair and eyes stay red and blue being that I used to have blond hair now it's brown, actually I used to have hair period.

I can't wait for everyone ot personally meet Amelia and i'm sure she'll have some kind of sarcastic movement or punny emotion that will make you laugh or shake your head. She is a hegenbart-hadjiyannis.

I can't wait to share the future with you all and hope we will have as much fun then as we are now.

Love Straty

Beautiful Auntie Sarah...

The three of us are sitting at the dining room table having breakfast. I started reading your lovely letter and the waterworks flowed. Straty took over to read and you got him too! I'm happy to know I'm not the only emotional one in this household. Amelia is just like her daddy, always trying to lighten the moode, as we sit in tears...she blows a hole in her panties. We both look at each other and laugh. I tell Straty he's got that one:) Thank you sis! This was absolutely beautiful. Love you so very much.

Firsts today are sponge bath, doctor's appointment and SHOPPING!!! XOXXOXO

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

I want to thank you all who have traveled with me the past 41 weeks on this amazing journey! For me being able to tell it from the heart. For the support phone calls and emails and for allowing us to share this time in our lives with you. In some way to me it feels like this is the end, but I know it's not. It's just the beginning of something wonderful and miraculous.

The delivery of our "Rose Bud" per Grandma, was incredible!!! I was surrounded by the most incredible support team ever! I think at first the nurses were nervous of the "crew" being in there, but in the end, they were very happy, and asked for them to come back and help others! I was very lucky to have mom and dad, Krista and Sarah, and the most incredible husband at my side...oh, and the best photographer:) You may think, my that's a lot of people, I thought so at first, but it was perfect! God knew exactly what he was doing! We went in at 7am and unpacked. They hooked me up to the monitoring devices, which I disliked very much. Those tight belly straps!!!! I was able to walk about. I was getting nervous about the induction part. I had hoped I would have started naturally. The cool thing was my water broke ten minutes prior to Dr. May coming in and breaking it for me! I was so thrilled! That was an answer to prayer. The contractions came on like quickly and then faded. They kicked in the pitocin to keep things consistent. I was 4/5cm when they hooked my up. They gave me the epidural as well, and within probably an hour we jumped up to 8/9cm by I think it was noonish. The family was across the street having lunch. We all couldn't believe how quickly things progressed. In no time I was fully dialated and it was time to call Jenny, the photographer. At 2:30pm the crew was ready and I started to push. You could tell the nurse was still nervous about the forbidden word, "C-Section." It was obvious in her body language and on her face that she really thought C-section was my only option and hated it when she had to say the four letter word..."PUSH." Straty stepped up to coach. Cleansing breathe, then three hard ten second pushes. Baby Hadj's heart rate dropped twice, so they hooked me up to oxygen. Mom was in charge of removing the mask during pushes and provided ice chips and cold towels. I was certain my pillow was on fire. I kept telling mom it was really hot in there. Straty had the brilliant idea of putting the towels in the frig first to cool them down faster. Sister Sarah ran the towel swapping as well as the blog. The nurse had to attend another patient, which then sister Krista came in to hold a leg. Dad made sure video was set and I'm sure was praying hard in the window seal. Jenny was about snapping this amazing team effort. Krista and Sarah would change off. It was soooooo cool, because at first it was Straty, mom and the nurse counting "one, two, three..." When Dr. May came in and said he was 95% certain Baby Hadj was coming vaginally, the energy shifted. Praise the Lord!!!! The whole room was counting..."ONE, TWO THREE..." You could tell the nurse was releaved as well! At 5:13pm Amelia Marie popped her head out. She was stuck for a couple hours in the canal, which gave her the biggest cone head and a ring around head. The ring to me looked like a halo. A true gift from heaven. God was there the whole time! He worked through every person in that room. Dr. May was incredible and so calm. Mom stayed both nights with us in the hospital. Straty is sick with a cold. It worked perfectly, since mom is my nursing coach. She'd check diapers, I'd feed, then she'd put Amelia to sleep. If Grandma had her way she'd do that every day:)

Thank you crew! Amelia and I couldn't have done it without you!!!!

We checked out of Club Med. I had to pretend we were going somewhere then a hospital that morning. The night before, I begged Straty to call the Doctor and tell him we weren't coming. I had changed my mind. Of course that wasn't going to happen. We came home and I panicked. It was the lack of pain killers, hunger and holy cow, now what do we do? Mom and Dad went in to survival mode. Mom unpacked us and started cleaning up things, while dad went in search of drugs and food:}

Straty you are incredible. Your support throughout this adventure has been fabulous. I say that in a sincere way. My heart has never felt as full. You're everything I need and more. You're going to be the most amazing daddy to our Amelia.

Thank you all for coming to visit Amelia, for the cards, emails, gifts and flowers. We are completely surrounded with love and support.

XOXOXOX