Emily Ann Peterson

Seems like ages ago that Matt and I took a stroll around Bernal last weekend on my due date wondering when this little one would appear. Our inability to plan and prepare for her precise arrival was difficult for the two of us who love to be organized, yet looking back I think things went as well as if we had planned it all out. From going into labor when Matt was home, to our midnight check-in at the hospital, to the giant room we were assigned that was spacious enough for me to walk around in, everything worked out perfectly.

Our hospital experience was incredible—couldn’t have asked for better treatment. After being in labor all day our doctor’s shift was scheduled to end at 6pm the evening I gave birth, but since I was 9 centimeters dilated she stuck around another 4 hours to see me through to delivery rather than pass me off to another physician. Then during our 2 days of postpartum stay we were treated to round the clock babysitters, room service for every meal, and nurses to answer all our baby-related questions. Part of me was reluctant to head home Friday evening, but I was also excited to introduce Emily to her new nursery. And what a perfect way to celebrate our 5th anniversary by bringing home our new baby girl!

Last but not least, the entire birthing experience was incredible because Matt was such an amazing coach/partner/cheerleader during all 24 hours of labor, supporting me every step of the way. Even as the nurse urged him to take a break and head to the cafeteria for some food & rest, he insisted on staying by my side through it all. He was consoling when I felt overwhelmed, reassuring when I doubted my strength, and comforting when I just needed some love.

On her 5th day here, I’m still in awe of how big Emily is and how well she’s doing. We’re quickly figuring out little routines and methods for changing, feeding, soothing, and waking her. Each day presents a new challenge, but luckily we’re gaining confidence all the time and so far have kept her pretty content :)

She's Arrived!

We're happy to announce the birth of our baby girl. Amy and I will be figuring out the name soon. Here she is about 8 hours old.

Stats:
- born at 10:12PM on May 26
- 7lbs 12oz
- 19.5 inches long

Many, many more details to follow. And many more photos. Everyone is doing fine!

Love, Matt & Amy & ????

It records 1080P video?

Using good old fashion numbers, triangle graphs, and budget analysis, I convinced myself (and Amy somewhat) that buying a DSLR camera would not spiral us into debt. The actual truth is that I realized I had been double counting rent (and subsequently mortgage) payments in my financial spreadsheet. I think the lesson here is never trust Microsoft Excel when purchasing electronics. Or something.

Anyway, here's what I bought last weekend and only last night opened up (15% restocking fee at Best Buy on opened items gave me reason to pause and really reevaluate the decision).

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos550d/default.asp

I hope I can learn how to use it before baby shows up.

-M

PS. Don't tell Amy that I'm going to need some accessories for it!

Mother's Day

With my due date 2 weeks away (!), I assumed I would be waiting until 2011 to celebrate my first Mother's Day. But thanks to some amazing friends and family, I was reminded several times this week that housing this little girl for the past 9 months qualifies me to celebrate this year.

First, on Friday I was surprised to find these beautiful flowers sitting on my desk from a very thoughtful coworker. (Yep, those are real lemons!) Then yesterday another friend treated me to a Mother's Day tea service in the city. We indulged in scones and finger sandwiches before ending the meal with a delicious strawberry shortcake and lemon madelines. Even my yoga instructor had a present for me after class: a super soft plush puppy dog (which to Matt's delight resembles a golden retriever) and a teeny-tiny summer jumper (with matching bloomers) for a special occasion. To top it all off, today Matt made me a delicious Mother's Day breakfast.

All in all a great first Mother's Day!!

-a

The Painting Part 2

Painting goes so much better when you have a competent team of professional tradeswomen.

Here's the new nursery, fresh with teal! The room now features rolling hills of grassland, and if you look closely, you can see a wild 4-plug outlet grazing!

-M

The Painting Part 1

Remember this photograph? Well we finally decided to do something about the pink.

Selecting a color for the nursery was more challenging than I had anticipated. I was really excited about warm colors like peach and orange. Once we got them on the walls, however, the natural wood turned them into flesh tones. Ack! I can just imagine showing the nursery to friends and family, "welcome to our skin-colored nursery!" Fortunately, Amy has a lot of artistic common sense. She suggested abandoning my enthusiasm for warmth, and instead exploring teals and light greens, and voila, we've got a real winner. Can you guess which we selected? Not much of a game since I'm about to post the new pics next.

-M

Rose infestation

This is a pic taken today of the rose bush/tree outside the nursery window. If we let them go this year, they have the potential to take over the backyard.

-M

Where's the fog?

Having planned to burn off calories from the night at Town Hall, we drove up to Point Reyes to walk on the beach and hunt turkey vultures last Sunday. The wildlife didn't disappoint - multiple turkey vulture sightings (with some near fly-bys), lots of quail poking around, a few sun-bathing lizards, an elk that resembled a mountain lion, small rock crabs patiently waiting for the tide to return, and a snake a little larger in diameter than a hot dog.

The first of two hikes to the beach allowed us to go "off-roading" a little with the tide low, and off in the distance we could see what appeared to be a slow moving, very tall, mountain lion. Luckily, we brought Amy's less-than-clear binoculars, inspected the animal, and inconclusively concluded it must've been an elk.

At one point on our second hike, a snake poked out of the weeds on to the trail, and surprised me enough that I instantly went into protective fatherly mode and grabbed Amy's arm. What didn't register in my head was that Amy was already trying to back away and I was actually keeping her from retreating. I'll need to hone those skills a little bit.

Oh, and no fog this time. Perfect weather.

-M

Town Hall

Still taking advantage of quality "just the two of us" time, we've recently made a couple dinner reservations at fancier places in the city. Town Hall is one of our favorites and our experience last Saturday just further solidified it. Not only did they seat us in the front corner surrounded on two sides by windows, they also surprised us with a Happy Anniversary dessert treat. We split a warm asparagus & carmelized strawberry salad. Amy had their famouse buttermilk fried chicken and I had the pork loin. We love that place.

The two of us, very full.

-M

Bernal Food

It was neat to see that our cozy SF neighborhood, Bernal Heights, had a little article written about it in the online version of the New York Times. We've noticed several new spots and are glad to hear that the "drug trade" has diminished in the past few years. Sheesh.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/dining/07sfdine.html

-M