Imogen Vivienne Brandenburg

Our little BITO is out of the oven.

The bun is cooked!

The little desert dweller swam into the world at 4.05am, 10 April 2012, weighing 8lbs 8oz and measuring 21.5”. (We had a wonderful water birth at Lovelace Women’s Center.)

Papa is smitten (again)

Imogen Vivienne has a good head of hair and looks a lot like baby Paloma. Even though her name means ‘lively maiden’, she is spending most of her time feeding and snoozing, and making a lot of little peeps and whirls as she sleeps. [Well, this is what we thought until late last night, when we discovered she screeches like a cockatoo when she is hungry!]

We’re all very happy to have her here – Paloma is very intrigued and excited. She has been very careful and gentle, and loves to rock the baby (for a few minutes). Paloma very generously gave Imogen a couple of her toys, and an apple and a cheese stick. When we explained that Imogen can’t eat yet because she doesn’t have any teeth, Paloma said, “That’s ok, I’ll save them for her.”

First cuddles from her big sister

Paloma is quite intrigued...

A cultural note on her name:

When I first suggested "Imogen" to Howard, he told me that he had never heard of it and thought it was very unusual. After a bit of research, we have found that the name is currently quite popular in Australia but very rare in the USA. "Imogene" seems to be the American version, but we're sticking with the Aussie spelling and pronunciation (IM-o-JENN).

"Vivienne" is from my paternal grandmother (Nana Burdett), so now both of the girls names honour a great-grandmother. 

Happy Easter!

[And, yes, we're still waiting to see what the Easter Bunny will deliver.]

There's a new kid in town!

Just kidding!

April Fool!

Our bun is still in the oven.

One more week of cooking (?)

I did, however, get some other buns out of the oven - I made hot cross buns! These are really common in Australia, but impossible to find here.

Paloma had a (warm) hot cross bun for breakfast, and gobbled it down like Cookie Monster.

the egg is getting ready to hatch...

We have three weeks left until our due date, and things are getting big.

Enjoying the spring sunshine!

It's approaching the time that we can start to compare BITO with the expiration date on Paloma's milk.

"Mama, why are you taking photos of my milk?"

Everyone is well. We're getting excited and taking bets on whether the baby will be a boy or a girl. Paloma says it will be a boy because then we will have two girls (Mama and Paloma) and two boys (Papa and BITO).

What do you think?

flippin' heck!

Crikey, that's getting to be a big belly! We only have a month or two to go, and it's really starting to show...

Look familiar? 

The good news is that BITO has flipped and is no longer breech. I felt a big tumble in my belly yesterday and it was confirmed by our wonderful midwife this morning. BITO is now head-down and ready to go.

Hooray!

turn, turn, turn

Two months to go!

Two quick months and BITO will be here.

Trying to convince Semilla to stick her nose in the picture. 

My belly is getting bigger and bigger - the little creature will spend the next couple of months fattening up and so will I.

At the moment, BITO is head up. We're hoping that s/he will turn, turn, turn in time.

And, it seems that the season is beginning to turn too. Our chickens are enjoying running in the yard and garlic is starting to poke up out of the ground.

Afternoon sunshine in our backyard. 

Afternoon ragamuffin in our backyard. 

Getting ready for BITO

We are slowly getting ready for the extra person (arriving in about ten weeks!).

I wrote a list and we're gradually working through it. I have sorted through Paloma's old clothes and pulled out all of her newborn things, including the cloth diapers. Today I washed them all, and hung them out to dry.

Everything is so teeny-tiny!

It's been quite amazing to go through Paloma's old things - we received so many gifts and it's great to think about all the wonderful people that gave us things. Or made us things - we have lots of hand-knitted cardigans (and hats!) and hand-sewn quilts that are so darn cute and I'm really looking forward to getting to use them some more.

Hello, third trimester!

The last 28 weeks have flown by, and suddenly we're in the third trimester already. 

BITO learning about gardening.
(That's the plum tree we planted for Paloma right behind us.)

I'm starting to feel pregnant and finally getting comments from strangers. 

BITO bump with lamb. 

We have started sorting through Paloma's old things. Paloma really liked this 'hat': it's actually a pair of shorts that I crocheted for her. 

She doesn't need to know that her hat is actually a diaper soaker....

BITO bump

21 weeks: Paloma and I visited the midwife yesterday. Everything is measuring well and BITO is coming along swimmingly. 

Semilla makes me laugh.

catching up #4

Did we tell you about BITO? I think we may have forgotten to make a big announcement. 

BITO is our nickname for the new bun-in-the-oven. S/he is slowly cooking away in the crockpot that is my belly. 

Here are a couple of snapshots of the little creature: 

At about 12 weeks. 

At about 20 weeks (halfway there!). 

That last one looks like a creepy little alien to us... Hopefully s/he will be better-looking when s/he emerges. We're hoping to see him/her on the outside about 8April 2012 - Easter Sunday next year. (Mark your calendars!)

As you may have guessed, we have again chosen to not find out the sex until s/he is on the outside. It just seemed like more fun to us. (Although we are yet to agree on a girl name.)

And, before you ask, I will try and get Howard to take a photo of my HHHHHHHUUUUUGGGGEEEEEE belly. As you may remember from last time, there wasn't much to show for a long time.

Finally, Paloma is a little bit excited about BITO but doesn't really grasp the whole idea. We talk about it a lot and read books about big sisters, but I don't think she will really understand what is going on until next April.