Welcome Katherine Marie!!!

We are thrilled to welcome little Katherine Marie Clark to our famiily. Our punctual little lady arrived right on her due date, Friday, October 23 at 8:40 pm.



She is absolutely delightful -- a sweet-tempered, healthy, and completely adorable little angel of a baby. We are loving snuggling a newborn again, and Rachel has been remarkably happy and sweet during this transition into big sisterhood. We feel so blessed, and we wanted to share some picture highlights from our first day with Miss Katherine.

I went in like this...



And about 8 hours later I had this..



A very proud mommy and daddy...First picture...
She weighed in at 8 pounds, 12.5 ounces (I almost wish I had known that when I decided against the epidural!!)

Andrew is not only a wonderful daddy and husband, he's also the world's BEST labor coach. I could not have done this without him. Andrew and I just can't get enough of our little Miss Katherine.

Many thanks to Grandma Gia for coming all the way from Arizona to help with Rachel and the new little one...

Rachel was fascinated and thrilled with her baby sister (whom she immediately dubbed "Bee" -- as in "Ba - Bee"). She squealed "Bee," pointed, clapped, blew kisses, and even remembered how to *gently* pat the baby. She seemed genuinely excited and happy with the new addition--we'll see how long it lasts once she realizes Katherine is here to stay!

And Katherine enjoyed meeting her Aunt Erin, cousin Kira, Aunt Jen, and Uncle Phil--thanks for the visits and the yummy treats!

Welcome to the world, Katherine!!!

One more day!

I'm looking at the baby countdown on our blog, and yet I still can't believe it! In the midst of wrapping up things at work, getting all the baby things ready again, preparing for my mom's arrival in Boston (she flew in last night), and trying to savor every little moment I can with my Ladybug before her baby sister arrives, the last month has gone by pretty quickly and it just doesn't seem real that this pregnancy is almost over. We're loving having my mom in town, we're grateful that our littlest ladybug is no longer in a breech position, we're hoping that Rachel will deal well with the transition to being a big sister (any advice/suggestions in this area would be greatly appreciated...), and we're especially eagerly anticipating meeting our new little lady in the very new future. Here's hoping that the next post will be pictures of our little bundle of joy! (and not about me soliciting advice on how to induce labor!)

There haven't been many pics taken of me during this pregnancy (which is really best for everyone's sake), but for the purposes of posterity here are a couple of pics from our little excursion to the Old North Bridge in Concord today so we could share some good New England foliage with Grandma...

From first steps to dancing queen...

We hadn't posted yet about Rachel's biggest milestone so far, so we thought we'd share a few videos to document the little Ladybug's progression from crazy crawling, to fledgling first steps, to pro-speed-walker, and now into a music-loving dancing queen. We love how Rachel keeps us so entertained at every turn, and we are especially loving her recent obsession with music, particularly jazz music and especially Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald. Every morning when she wakes up, before she lets us even take her out of her crib, she now points to her CD/IPod player and insists that we turn on her music so she can have a little morning dance party. It's absolutely hilarious to watch her shimmy, spin, and shake her little booty to the beat!

Early June -- so close, and so proud of herself!


Late June -- first steps!!!

October -- Shall we dance???

Handsome Rob in Boston, and Blueberries for Rachel

We loved having my little brother Rob stay with us during August. We had such a wonderful time showing him all our favorite spots in and around Boston, including downtown at the Public Gardens and Boston Common, Six Flags, Newport R.I., and much more. And Rachel LOVED having a constant playmate (she kept Uncle Rob very busy!). Make way for our little Duckling....

Beach Babe....
Six Flags -- first amusement park ride...

In early September, to help us cope with missing Rob after he went back to CA for school, we took advantage of one of the last really warm weekends and did one of our favorite New England activities-- Blueberry picking. Rachel was in heaven eating her favorite treats by the handful right off the bush...

Summer Recap: Arizona in July!!!

In July, we headed out west to the true "Sunshine State," braving a couple cross-country flights with a toddler, long airport delays, and 116 degree weather to welcome my little brother Robert home from his 2 year mission in Porto Alegre, Brazil. It was fantastic to have the whole family together again, and Rob loved meeting his 4 new nieces and nephews almost as much as they loved meeting him. Welcome home Rob!!! We're so proud of you!
The Ryan clan, together again...

Rachel was in heaven playing with her cousins Marc, Abby, and Ella, cuddling with Grandma and Grandpa, wrapping Uncle Rob around her little finger, reveling in all of Grandma and Grandpa's toys, and mastering the art of walking as she tried to keep up with Marc...

After the long late night flight, the 3 hour time difference, lots of play time, and her refusal to take a nap that first day, our little ladybug was finally sufficiently tuckered out, so she found a quiet spot on the floor in the study to catch some much-needed zzzz's.

Daddy thought it was a pretty good idea, so he joined in...

But before long, Rachel was ready to play again, and she quickly decided she LOVED the swimming pool.

Then Andrew and Rob decided it was time to expand her musical repertoire by teaching her the drums. This girl loves music in any form, especially when it means she gets to bang on something, but I think it will be a few more years before we enjoy listening to it as much as she does!

Thanks Mom and Dad for hosting all of us for such fun weekend. It went way too quickly.
But the fun didn't stop there--Rachel got to play for a few extra days with Grandma and Grandpa (THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU Mom & Dad!!!) while Andrew and I went up north to Sedona, AZ to spend a couple days with just the two of us (OK, 2 & 1/2 of us, but who's counting) for a little "babymoon"/5-year anniversary trip. We enjoyed the stunning red rock views, the peaceful and rejuvenating ambiance, and especially the freedom of traveling and eating out without our little sidekick.

We also enjoyed finding our "center" in the "magical" labyrinth at our Bed & Breakfast. For those who don't know, in addition to just being a really beautiful and peaceful place to relax and hike, Sedona is supposedly the site of a high-energy vortex and is thus known as the capital of the New Age movement. It's filled with labyrinths, psychics, magic crystals, alternative medicine, spiritual healers, and all other things mystical and beyond. We got a kick out of it the whole time. In fact, it turned out that the chef at our B&B was also a spiritual therapist, and when she saw that I was pregnant, she offered to do a "muscle reading" to determine the true gender of the baby (we hadn't been entirely convinced by our first ultrasound when the doctor told us to "keep our receipts"). In addition to recognizing my strong "chi" (or energy in New Age talk), she told us that all 3 of her "readings" came back with the same conclusion--a baby boy. She apparently has only been wrong once in a few decades, so we'll see -- but we're still planning on pink, especially since our most recent ultrasound confirmed this is indeed a baby GIRL.

We finished off our little get-away with an African-style safari in the Arizona desert, where we got up close and personal with the animals....

(this was my favorite--a very pregnant zebra, ready to deliver at any moment--it's how I'm feeling right about now!)

The giraffes were friendly....

The zebras were not...

And the tigers just wanted their food...luckily Andrew was brave enough to dole out the meat...

All in all, we had a wonderful time in Arizona!