Introducing Sabrina Eldora Carmichael

She's here!

Sabrina was born Friday night--Jan 7, 2011 at 10:30 pm. She was born into the water and caught by her daddy. The birth was fast (less than 2 hours at the birth center), intense, and beautiful. Both Sabrina and I are recovering wonderfully and are fully enjoying our babymoon.

I'm not quite sure what to write, because my husband Alex is detailing life so well on his blog 42 days. We are so blessed to have him home for the next 6 weeks (42 days), and he plans to blog about his experiences--one post per day. So, I will try to not be redundant. I will restrict myself to blogging about stuff he doesn't cover.

Baby Brina is such a blessing. I deserve her. Edgar was so hard as a new baby (didn't eat for the first 3 days of his life, cried non-stop for 3 months, etc., etc.) and--so far--Sabrina is just what I deserve after surviving Edgar. She sleeps. She eats. She wakes up and looks around at us. She cries to tell me her diaper is wet or she is hungry or cold--and then stops crying when the problem is resolved.

I love my Edgar. He has made me stronger and more patient. And I love my Sabrina. She is my reward.

The Countdown...

The New Year is here...and the countdown has begun. I'm not exactly sure WHEN we are counting down to...but I imagine that within the next week or two we will be welcoming Baby Girl Carmichael into our home! (Nope--no name yet--we have a short list of 3 and a longer list of alternatives...but, I'm not worried. She'll have a name by the time she comes home...probably).

And...the last minute flurry of preparations has begun...including the all-important Danita Pappas photo shoot. It was pouring outside, so we hit the local used bookstore as a "studio" of sorts for the photo shoot--turned out fantastic. It will probably take a while to get all the photos, but Danita (good friend and photographress extraordinaire) posted a few teasers for us.

I LOVE this family of mine. We had a fun New Year's Day--we meant to do a lot of cleaning/organizing the house to prepare for new baby (and we did get some of those important things done), but mostly we just ENJOYED each other. All three of us seem to be feeling huge loving amounts of joy toward one another. I know that baby girl will only add to that--but in part we know that we are losing--(not quite the right word)--changing our current picture of "family," and I think we are all trying to squeeze every last drop of enjoyment from our perfect little family.

I guess I'm feeling a little nostalgic: Letting go of the old and ringing in the new, and all of that.

I can't wait to meet this baby girl and to see what our new family dynamics will be like--and until then, I will do all I can to enjoy the countdown!