Introducing Ivy Angela Halteman

Ivy

Born Friday March 25th, 2011 at 4:37pm, weighing in at 7lb. 10 oz. and 20 1/2 inches long. More details to come as we settle into this new life of ours. She's absolutely perfect.

Ivy asleep on Grandpa Caron (Jenny's Dad)

Jenny had a long and hard labor. It lasted just over 30 hours and we were in the hospital an extra day while Jenny received a blood transfusion. A whole team of doctors were there to deliver her strange placenta... a story in itself. Despite all that Jenny did the entire thing with NO pain meds. It was incredible and Ivy came out perfectly healthy. So far, she has been a dream child. She sleeps well, and often. She does not cry excessively. She is crazy strong. She sucks on my nose. She is beautiful and we love her very much. Willie likes to give her kisses on her ears.

Jenny's parents are visiting this week, and mine are visiting next week. By then we should be into a bit more of a routine and we might find some time to do a nice big birth story kind of post. We'll try to keep you all updated in the meantime. So far, it's wonderful and we are having a great time with our new little life aboard.


Welcome Ivy! We love you so much!

Sleeping

I started having issues with the v-berth a month or two ago. Climbing out of the v-berth with a growing belly became harder and harder every day. I am getting up 3-5 times a night, and to get out of the bed I have to spin around, get my feet on the sewing machine step, and somehow try to not wake Justin in the process. Step 1 was the most difficult, followed by step 3. To get back into bed was just as much of a chore, and frankly it was exhausting. I was beginning to feel very much like this pup:

Finally, I had enough. Our table drops down to form a bed, so we've been sleeping on that for the past week. Truthfully, it's far less comfortable, but I'm not waking up Justin at night now and it has made getting back in to bed much easier. Getting out is still fairly difficult (in fact, I am much more like that little puppy trying to get out of the bed now!) but at least I've eliminated *some* of the frustrations of sleep!

Soon there will be a baby that will keep us both awake at night, but for now at least one of us can get a good night's sleep, and I can get in and out a little easier.

Nachos, Friends and Dogs

This winter has been different than winters past - namely that there have been a lack of dinner parties, or at least far less than normal.

One of my favorite things about having people visit the boat is that it gives us a good reason to actually clean things up. No, we're not slobs, but seriously even ONE backpack clutters the boat up, so to have a few things laying around really makes it seem like a wreck inside.

We had a simple meal of nachos (with paper plates - classy), and had roughly 9 people over.


Even Willie had a playmate - McQueen! Willie and McQueen are the most perfectly matched dogs ever. You'd think they came from the same litter by how similar they are in looks and size, and their personalities blend perfectly as well. I could watch the two of them play all day long.



The food was good, the company was great, and we were even able to get a game of cards in afterwards! Such a great night.