Antepartum get-away

It was so nice to go away for a while. James and I decided to take off some romantic time to enjoy our time alone in this romantic cottage at Williamsburg, Virginia. That is the first British Colony in America. The place is beautiful and wonderful. We also visited Jamestown which is the first English settlement in America. The museums and historic sites were amazing. We stayed in a cottage that almost felt like home. We went to the movies, swimming, for ice-cream, for breakfast, lunch and dinner and we went shopping too. They had these outlet malls with great deals so we did some wise shopping. We took this trip because it is probably going to be our last trip or vacation alone for a long time. And even if we get to go away alone, we have to make so many plans before we can leave home. This time we just got up and left and we did not have to carry diapers or formula or strollers. We wanted to do this for one last time. I'm glad we did because we had a fabulous time.

Fat or Sexy?

Lately, I have been getting a lot of compliments about my glow, my hair, my figure etc. Of course James does not let me go a day without making me aware of this. There are days that I donot feel pretty/sexy at all. My waist line looks different and my chest is huge and this makes me feel huge. I have read many times in pregnancy books to feel sexy and never to feel fat but sometimes I just can't help it. Most of the time I feel pretty though. When I go to the gym, I don't see any pregnant women around and I feel like all eyes are on me. Some people look shocked to see me lifting weights, doing abs exercise etc. I am very careful and I research on what is safe to do and I know what to do so as not to hurt our baby or myself. I feel so much better when I'm active and not just sitting around. When I don't go to the gym, I feel weak and sick and when I do I get this boos of energy that carries me through the day. I've always been a health conscious and I feel that now is even more important time to be health conscious. I am sharing my body with the most precious being and so I have to keep it right. I try to eat right and do things right. I think that is the best gift I can give to Elise at this time.

Making Plans

I would have loved to stay at home with Elise all the time after she is born but we cannot afford to do that at this time. It breaks our hearts to even think about he fact that we have to leave her at a daycare at some point. I am going to be working mostly 3pm to 11pm and James works from 8:30am till 5pm. We are going to make this work out and make sure we or either of us is with her most of the day so we are sure we are raising her ourselves and not somebody else. Since I work at 3pm, I will have the opportunity to be with her all morning until around 2:30pm before taking her to a daycare/nanny/babysitter. James can then pick her up around 5:30pm when he gets off work. So she will be at the daycare for roughly 3hours monday through Friday. The good thing about nursing is that I am off sometimes during the week so she would not have to go anywhere that day. James is also off on fridays until around 4pm so on Fridays I will try to work 7am-3pm so I can come home and be with her. Well, you are probably asking how James and I will see each other...well, I'm off on the weekends, I get some days off during the week, and there are times that I have to work 7am to 3pm so I will see him when he gets home from work. The days I have to work 7am to 3pm will be bitter sweet because Elise would have to be at the daycare from around 8am-4pm. James will drop her off on his way to work( around 8am) and I will pick her up after I'm done with work( around 4pm). I say these days will be bitter sweet because, even though we will be leaving her for the most hours at the daycare/nanny/sitter, these will also be the days that we can all be together as a family for dinner and be able to put her to sleep together, say night-time prayers together, read her bedtime stories together and get to kiss her goodnight together.

We are already sad that we may miss some milestones such as her first crawl because we we both at work. We love our little girl and we want to do the best that we can for her and be the best parents that we can for her. We have been searching for a babysitter/daycare/nanny for a while now. You may think that's too early but all the good ones get filled up quick and they have long waiting list sometimes up to two years so you have to look early. I have been to a couple of centers. Some I love, and some not so much. Some are E-X-P-E-N-S-I-V-E, in fact, most are expensive. I have a lady from LOCATE CHILDCARE OF BALTIMORE who is helping me with the search. She asked me for our preference and our philosophy and our values and sent us a profile of possibilities. During the month of January, I have been going to center after center trying to find a place we feel comfortable with. I always have so many questions and very critical when I visit these centers. I watch how the staff interract with the children, I watch the teacher to child ratio, I check out how clean and how the place smells. I look at the colors and paintings and pictures, I examine how the caretakers dress and how long their fingernails are. I ask if they have an evacuation plan in case of fire or flood, I find out what activities the children get during the day and if they take them out to play.

I also check how they change diapers and what they do for infection control such as sanitizing toys and changing areas. I look into how they store formula, breastmilk, or any food for the kids and the kind of extra foof they may provide for the kids. Most of the daycares have an open door policy where you can just walk in at anytime to observe. I especially like the ones with the one-way glass where you can watch the caregivers and the children without them knowing you are there. If we are to leave our child with someone, we wat to make sure it is safe and comfortable. At the moment, wer are still not sure if we want a home babysitter, a nanny, or a daycare center. All these have their pros and cons but we are looking for the place or the person that we both feel the most comfortable to leave Elise.

Mini Baby Shower

On Saturday December 27th, the Corey family had our christmas party. There was so much food and fun. It was great to see everybody. We got the chance to talk about Elise to everybody. They saw our ultrasound pictures and everybody fell in love with her. We all exchanged christmas presents and it was so fun. After the official christmas party, they had a surprise mini baby shower for us. That was so thoughtful. We received such great gifts. Elise got her first outfits, bibs, stuffed animals, onesies, blankets, brag book etc. The outfits are so tiny and so cute. James' mom gave me James' baby bood that talks about the very first contractions she had with James, to his first sunday school, to when he lost his first tooth, etc. That was the greatest gift I received. She also gave me James' baby blanket. Last Christmas, I received some of James' baby blankets and his favorite Scooby Doo when he was growing up and I'm glad that I received more of those. Elise also received a huge,pink pony from Maria. It is such a beautiful pony but we could not carry it with us on the plane because we had so much stuff. Elise already has almost a closet worth of stuff. We need to get her a closet. I use the big walk-in closet in the master bedroom and James uses the other closet in the second bedroom which is now going to be Elise's room so I guess he has to move...No just kidding...we will just buy another closet from Ikea or some other furniture store for our baby girl.Yesterday, when I got home from work, James had laid out all of Elise's clothes and separated the bibs from the blankets and from the stuffed animals and so on. That mad eit so clear to me that she needs her own closet. she cannot share with mummy or daddy. Talking about Elise's room, we are planning on having a nursery with a Safari theme. You know with paintings and pictures of Giraffes, monkey, birds etc. We want it to feel like an african safari in there. She is going to see so much of america that we thought we would surround her with some african spirit this way.

New Year, Big year, Big movements

Its the last day of 2008. 2008 was a great year for James and I. It started out well. Great things happened in the year and it also ender with great thinkgs. As usual, I have to go back and write about what happened a couple of days ago when I was so busy to write. I was so busy traveling and visiting family. On christmas eve, I missed the candle light service at church because I had to work. On Christmas day, we got up around 6AM because we had a flight to catch at BWI airport. We were on our way to Reedsburg, Wisconsin to see my in-laws and the rest of James' family. This was an exciting trip because we had not been together with the whole family at christmas since 2004. We wre so excited to be there and so was Elise. I guess the joy of meeting her grand parents and aunts and uncles made her very active. She started making really big movements over the weekend. It felt weird but wonderful. Everytime I feel her move, it brings a smile to my face and my heart rejoices. I had been feeling little flutters every now and then but over the weekend, they were no small movements. James was so thrilled to feel his daughters movements. When James sang at church on Sunday, she kept moving and moving. She likes the sound of her father's voice...so does mommy. Everytime James kisses or rubs my belly, she moves.

Maternity Clothes

I am growing bigger and bigger everyday. I have been fitting into my pre-pregnancy jeans and can still fit in them but they are no longer comfortable because they all range from size 0-3. I loved to wear my pants tight before I was pregnant but now they are getting so uncomfortable. My work pants are size 5 so they still fit alright. My favorite jeans was a size 0. Well, yesterday, it was so cold that I needed to wear long Johns under my jeans. That is when reality hit me- I need maternity pants!!!!! After James and I went to get ourselves a new video camera in preparation for Christmas with the family in Wisconsin and also in preparation for Elise, we went to motherhood maternity to get some new jeans for me. They are so comfortable and it has a big band. They are not exactly cute but they work. I'm happy I made that transition. Yesterday, our christmas tree and lights went up. We have been so busy that we got to that late. I made a photo album from all of our ultrasound pictures of Elise. The album was a wedding gift. Now it is the home of the very first shots of our precious Elise. It is under the christmas tree because it is the sweetest and the biggest Christmas present ever- not from Santa but from God. Today, I went for a tour on the Johns Hopkins Labor and Delivery unit. The environment is calm and the rooms are welcoming. I think I like it.I know its kind of early to do that but I want to do those things before my christmas break is over.

Elise

Oh, I haven't written anything in days. Well, a lot has happened. Well let me begin with Why we chose Elise. Elise means " an oath or promise or vow to God". It can also mean consecrated to God. The name Elise just came to me one day. It was like a revelation from God. I was so bitter about not getting pregnant early enough that while in a conversation with God one day, the name just came to me. And I said to God, if you give us a little girl , we will name her Elise. I quickly went upstairs and looked up the meaning. I loved the way it sounded and the meaning of it. James and I had been discussing names even before we got pregnant and could not agree with one yet. When I mentioned Elise to him...he fell in love with it too. I had only heard of one person called Elise...Kimberly Elise...she is and actress but Elise is her last name. I recently met another person called Elise and I work with her. Well we cannot wait to meet our Elise. We love her to death. We also wanted to give her a local and native Ghanaian name. James and I both believe in making sure our children know and are part of both of our cultures. James really wants to name her Adwoa, or Afua, or Ekua which are all names that are derived from the day a child is born in Ghana. So Elise will have one of those names depending on which day of the week she is born. I wanted more than just that and wanted a unique native name. I could not choose any other than " Ahenfoah" which means Royalty. That is my beloved mother's name. So now we have both agreed on those....unless we change our minds.