We say goodbye with heavy hearts... sadly, Grandpa Jim passed away suddenly during his visit to Madison on May 22, 2010. We are so grateful that Iris got an opportunity to meet him, and we hope to instill his kindness, patience and compassion in her so that his spirit may live on. Iris has been amazing through all of this, and has really helped console us through these tough times. She's a phenomenal traveler and weathered the long drive between Madison and Buffalo like a seasoned pro. Fortunately, she got to meet most of her extended family while traveling in upstate NY, and we're off to the Outer Banks this Sunday for a week on the beach before Uncle Jeffrey and Aunt Becky get married. These recent days have been full of unforgettable highs and lows. We are trying to keep our heads high as we look ahead to the future...

Week 3

Turns out that we are totally in love with Iris. We've been at home with her for 3 weeks now and still marvel at every little snarfle, cry, and coo. Due to her loud and dinosaur-like sleeping sounds, Bob's nicknamed her Irisaurus. She seems to be getting more comfortable with life outside the womb and beginning to have a better sense of self (i.e., yep, those things bonking me in the face are MY hands). This week she enjoyed her first real bath (Ralph helped), her first happy hour by the lake (despite the car starting on fire on the way there!), and dancing to The Beatles with her dad (see video below). Grandma Carol and Grandpa Jim arrive tomorrow for a week-long visit and we look forward to introducing her to them.

Week 2 at home

A week of firsts

Our first week home with Iris has been full of "firsts." Her first thunderstorm, her first trip to the market, her first trip to corporate America (we were slightly disappointed that she seemed to enjoy her trip to Target!), etc. Until today, the weather has been beautiful, so we've been enjoying hanging out on the back deck, playing in the yard, and going for walks. We seem to be figuring each other out a bit and are on a more regular schedule of eating, sleeping, and pooping, with thankfully less screaming than the first few days. Our friends have been fantastic and have been bringing us amazing meals so that we can concentrate on hanging out with Iris rather than thinking about what to make for dinner. So far so good!

Whew! We're settling in at home after the chaos of the last few days which has included:

- a lightning quick labor which the midwives described as "rockstar." We were prepared for a long labor, as most first babies take a long time to come out. I started having mild contractions at 9pm Monday night, took a bath, and tried to sleep for a few hours, expecting active labor to begin later the next day. I woke up at 2am to Niagara Falls and intense contractions only 2-3 minutes apart. I got to the birthing center fully dilated at 4am and the our midwife caught Iris 1.5 hours later. She arrived as the full moon was setting and the sun was rising on a beautiful spring morning. Her birth was truly amazing- despite taking & teaching many biology courses over the years, we were in awe of the innate ability of the human body to give birth. We are thankful to have had such a positive birth experience.

- sleepless nights: Iris thinks that days are for sleeping and nights are for partying (i.e., screaming and eating). Ten years ago, we may have agreed with her, but we're old now... I was convinced the other night that she was speaking to me in Parseltongue- let us know if you can help us translate. She is breast-feeding like a champ though and is already almost back to her birth weight after only 3 days, which is fantastic. Hopefully we'll get on a more sane schedule soon.

- other fun challenges of new parent-dom like learning how to type with one hand, dealing with diaper blow-outs, avoiding spilling coffee on the baby, etc.

We are grateful to our family and friends for all their well wishes and offers of help, food, etc. It has helped make our first few days together a joy!

Pics from Iris's B-day

She's Here!

Baby Fahey decided she wanted out early Tuesday morning (April 27th), we drove to the hospital at 4am and she was born at 5:28. We decided to name her Iris because she's our little spring flower. She weighed in at 7lbs 6oz at birth. We're enjoying getting to know her and figuring out he whole parenting thing. We're planning to head home tomorrow morning and are looking forward to introducing her to her furry siblings Ralph and Tilly. We included a couple photos taken with Bob's phone, we'll add more once things get a bit less hectic!

2 weeks to go!

Beth and Coco are doing great and enjoyed a visit from Mandy (Beth's best friend from high school) this weekend. We hit up the Wisconsin Film Festival, went for walks, ate yummy food (of course!), and made a plaster cast of Beth's belly! We used plaster strips dipped in water and coated Beth's torso to commemorate its impressive size. We dried the cast in the oven,painted it, and then hung it in the baby's room- check it out!

36 down, 4 to go!

Despite the common joys of late pregnancy ("cankles", sausage fingers, sore back, sleepless nights, etc.), things are going well in pregnancy-land. Beth and Coco enjoyed a weekend of nesting in Madison, while Bob headed east to trade our beloved pick-up truck of eight years for a more baby responsible car with his parents. Both mom-to-be and Coco are in good health and will begin seeing their midwife weekly as the big date nears...

32 weeks down, 8 to go...

So far, so good. Beth has been very lucky and has been enjoying a healthy pregnancy. We've been trying to squeeze in as many "last hoorahs" as possible, including recent trips to Mexico and a x-country ski trip to the Porcupine Mts. Baby "Coco" as we call her (yep its a girl!), is very active, growing quickly, and currently head down getting ready for her departure. We've posted some pictures on our Picassa account (click on pictures above) and will attempt to update the site regularly once Coco arrives.