Head ... shoulders, knees and toes

Head ... shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes ...
Go ahead and sing along - you know you want to!!

Everybody loves little baby parts. Tiny little fingers and cute little toes. We thought we'd share some of our favorite little parts with you! Enjoy!


Bill's friend Eric helped to capture some of Becca's little parts, too!



Wanna see ALL of Becca's little parts??
(She's gonna LOVE this when she's 14!!)
Becca finally had a big-girl bath in the pink tub. She seemed a little unsure at first, but tolerated it well overall. She definitely liked snuggling inside her Pooh towel - and who wouldn't right?!? They really need to make those for overgrown kids like me.


Rub-a-dub-dub!

Welcome all visitors!

Becca has just celebrated her one month birthday! Hooray!


Since meeting the grandparents, Becca has enjoyed entertaining visitors!


Aunt Natalie, cousin Rachael, and Grandma came down to visit for a week. It was fun to see how proud Nat was to finally be AUNT NATALIE !! Rachael was SO ready to walk while she was visiting, but just wouldn't let go of her stabilizing object. She scooted around quite well, though, and made herself right at home in TN. Rachael seemed to be interested in Becca and would peek in on her often - especially when she was eating or crying! The two girls napped together - the first of many activities they will share in the future!




After a short recovery period from G'ma and Aunt Nat's lovin' - Becca had to gear up for a visit from Alicia and Sarah! How exhausting! We wondered who would spoil Becca more: Nat or Sarah !!! That's a tough call!
So Sarah and Alicia arrived on Friday night and promptly snatched up little Bec! I was happy to have my best buds there to give me a hand (AGAIN!) Alicia is a natural with babies and it's obvious she's had some practice being "Aunt Ish"!We all had a "girls' day out" complete with lunch and shopping. It was a long day and we all had lots of fun. It looks like Sarah and Becca had a little too much fun - I'm not sure who wore whom out here! I think Baby Boy Dodson was a somewhat jealous of all Becca's attention - he kept kicking Becca right through Sarah's belly! But boys will be boys and he's already picking on the little girls. Just wait until they grow up!!We had a fabulous visit. I'm so thankful to have worderful family and friends. Becca is a lucky girl to receive so much love from so many people!

Becca meets the Grandparents

Let the SPOILING begin!!

Becca met the Sal Grandparents immediately. Grandma and Papaw were at the hospital eagerly awaiting her arrival. They wasted no time settling in to the spoiling mode.

A few days later, MawMaw and PawPaw Pastorius arrived. They were just in time for the big game and Becca's first Super Bowl party! Can you guess their favorite team?

Becca's Big Day!

Well gang, the big day had finally arrived. Because Becca was still breech, we had a planned C-section to welcome her into the world. Up before dawn, we arrived at the hospital just behind mom and dad at 5:30 am. (Who knew there WAS a 5 am??) We checked in and the nursing staff promptly began poking me with needles and applying wrist bands so I couldn't escape. Bill and I were dressed for the occasion in our finest hospital attire. Let the games begin!
We were officially escorted to the operating theater where I felt the unusual sensation - or lack thereof - of the "spinal". As a result, I was completely numb from the ribs down (whereas I'm usually numb from the neck up!). The team strapped me down to the table - again so I couldn't escape, and Bill joined the cast of characters and the production began. Our fearless doctor, Dr. Drey (no, I am NOT making that up!) skillfully carved his way into my uterus. I must say, his reaction time is very fast as he almost completely avoided all of my water. We all chatted amicably during the procedure (very surreal!!) Bill was "supposed to be" holding my hand - what, and miss the show?!? No way! He stood peeking over the magic curtain to give me the play-by-play drama unfolding before him. (You know those moments when you hear someone utter words you'll never forget... ) "I see a foot ... there's a butt ... OH MY GOD SHE'S HUGE" I didn't know whether to laugh or cry - and all I thought was *please scream, please scream, please scream* (Yes, you other parents, I fully understand that for the rest of her life I will wish *please stop screaming, please stop screaming ...*)

So out came Rebecca Marlee Pastorius at 8:13am. Weighing in at 8 lb 13.7 oz and measuring 20 3/4 inches. Daddy left me for his new favorite girl and supervised the nurses in their clean-up efforts. A short time later I met my beautiful daughter.
While in recovery, Daddy was allowed to carry Becca from the OR to the nursery. I have never seen him smile so big!!! He was even smiling during his "Daddy initiation" - changing the first dirty diaper!!!!
Here are a few pictures of the star of our show. No autographs, please!




See Becca's web nursery photo at www.msha.com/webnursery and use Sal6177 as your login and 5018 as your passcode. Don't forget to sign the guestbook!

She's Here!

At 8:13 AM on January 27th of 2009, Rebecca Marlee Pastorius was brought kicking and screaming into this big scary world. She weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs. 14 oz and measured 20 3/4 inches long. Here's a photo, more to come later!

The Belly Game - "ROUND TWO"

Hey kids!
Back for more?

Let's play round two:
Can you identify these bellies???

(Sesame Street music playing ... "one of these kids is doing her own thing, two of these kids are kinda the same ... can you guess which kid is doin' her own thing ... now it's time to play our game ... it's time to play our game")



If you guessed that "Melanie" is sporting the exotic tiger stripes ... YOU'RE RIGHT !!
Who need stripy undies when you can have a whole stripy belly?!? (I think it may catch on in Hollywood)

And now ... the BONUS ROUND!
Be sure to put in your vote for the date of "The Big Event"

The Baby's Room

The baby's room, formerly known as Bill's room, was a complete disaster!!!!! We had boxes and bags and gifts and toys and random wall-to-wall chaos. There was no way we could fix this problem with Bill working 11hr/day, 6 days/week and me unable to even tie my own shoe laces!

Help us Sarah and Alicia ... you're our only hope!

(Bravo to anyone who got that reference!) So as I mentioned Sarah and Alicia came down for a visit - or so they thought. Ha! Once trapped in the confines of our apartment they were forced into slave labor. Little did I know that the tables would soon turn!



These two girls honestly worked their butts off!!! I've never seen anything like it in all my days. They're MACHINES!!!! In three short days, they whipped this place into shape! Sarah is well into pregnancy herself, and under the control of some powerful hormones she morphed into Super-Sarah ... able to leap small buildings in a single bound!!! (I remember being Super-Melanie in the second trimester) At one point Alicia and I gave up for the night, but Sarah was still going strong despite our urgings for her to give it up. We were exhausted just watching her! Geesh!

We elicited Bill's help with assembling the crib one day before he went to work. With the four of us chipping in, it was a piece of cake! Well ... okay ... to be honest, I just read the instruction manual, supervised, and photographed but at least I stayed out of their way so they could work. It was snowing at the time - no I mean IN the apartment. The crib was packed in these little styrofoam balls of evil that exploded all over the room and hallway. After several vacuum jobs, I'm still finding these little monsters everywhere!! Sarah did about a thousand loads of laundry to clean EVERYTHING and prepare for Becca's arrival. In the end, we only had one item MIA. Of course everyone believes that the washer/dryer eats the socks, but I now have a new theory ...
(I dunno - so don't even ask.)

All in all, our efforts were successful. Bill and I definitely couldn't have done it alone. We appreciate Alicia and Sarah SO MUCH for all their help and support. There really are no words adequate enough to express my gratitude. They truly are great friends - there for us no matter what! I thank them for their emotional support as well as their physical labor. And a special thanks should really go to Alicia for dealing with us two pregnant yahoos at the same time. She should get some kind of medal for that alone!!!
Thanks girls!