Naptime

Maya tried out her crib all by herself this morning:

Maya at Two Weeks

Maya had her two week check-up today. After a wobbly first week (losing weight, a slightly elevated bilirubin count), Maya went gangbusters the past week. In the last 9 days, she's gained more than a pound, and she's now 7 pounds 10 ounces. Here are a couple of pictures of Maya over the last couple of days:

Maya's Friends

At two weeks old, Maya has already had lots of visitors. Here's pictures of Maya over the last couple of weeks with a few of her new friends...

Here's grandma (Tim's mom), who we were lucky enough to have present for the birth:


And the second grandma (my mom), who, with grandpa and aunt Jocelyn flew in the day after Maya was born:


Here's grandpa (he didn't make her cry; he's trying to calm her...):


and Aunt Jocelyn (my twin sister):


Our friends James and Laura have been unbelievably helpful--they took care of our puppies while we were in the hospital, they visited and ran errands for us, and have been coming by once a week to give me a little break. All we had to give them in exchange was some time with Maya:



And here's Maya with mom:


and with dad (watching basketball):


Maya has had a ton of other visitors also, we just didn't catch everyone in a photo. Everyone has been really great, and several people have really helped us out with some chores, food (cookies, specifically...), and even hand-me down baby clothes.

It's a Girl!

Maya Sophia Julien was born at 3:48pm on Thursday, May 10, 2007. For those statistic junkies among you, she was 6 pounds, 14 ounces and 19 inches long. She was 2 weeks early, but both Maya and I are doing very well. We came home from the hospital earlier this afternoon and are settling ourselves in quite nicely. Here is a picture for your viewing pleasure...



More information and photos will follow when we're not so exhausted (so in a few years...).

36 Weeks...

Don't expect any more pictures, but, just for grandma, here's one of me this evening...

Meet our New Niece!

My brother and sister-in-law welcomed a new addition late last night. Meet Megan Kara:


She not only looks like a big baby, but she is a big baby, weighing in at 9 pounds, 9 ounces! If you know Sarah (she's very petite), you'll know that this was a lot for her to be carrying around for the last few weeks.

Mother and baby are doing great. I'm sure the other West children can't wait to meet her (I know I can't!).

The Nursery

Here's a photo of the nursery; it's mostly complete. We got the crib in there last weekend, and it looks much more like a nursery since we did. Tim put in the ceiling fan (we figured it's a necessity in Texas). Many thanks to Tim's mom who helped signficantly with the painting task. (And to Tim's brother Arthur who brought us drinks...) The black wall to the left is actually both magnetic and a chalkboard; we put down magnetic primer first and covered it with chalkboard paint. You'll be seeing Julien 2.0's creations on them once she grows into chalk drawing...


Here's the other half of the room; it's not as exciting since the dresser we've ordered hasn't come in yet. But you can see how spoiled the baby already is! (By the way, the TV isn't for Julien 2.0, it's for Mom; a friend suggested it was necessary for all of the hours that will be spent in the nursery in baby-calming-attempts.) You can see that Hannah is already working on selecting the best baby watching location. The dogs have no idea what's coming...