Charley's Birth

I've got to document this stuff, so I'm backdating.  Apologies.

Moments after birth, Charley and Nick make eye contact  for the first time.

Nick looks a bit ashen in this photo, as he chose to stand at the business end

of our daughter's birth, and nearly passed out (yet again).

First bath? Check!

  

Adorable yawn? Check!

Cleaned up with a gender-identifying bow? Check and check!

Passed my hearing test? Double check!

 We were smooth sailing, and geared up for a quick check-out,

when the nurse detected an arrhythmia in Charley's heart...

We ended up being admitted to the NICU for two days, for observation.

Lots of monitoring, lots of worry, were replaced by prayers and peace.

She has since seen a pediatric cardiologist, who has confirmed the NICU doctor's

initial diagnosis of a Premature Atrial Contraction (PAC), 

who the cardiologist dumbed down for me like this:

Imagine that the pacemaker of your heart is the "Cheerleader Section,"

whose job it is to yell, "PUMP!" every time your heart beats.

In Charley's heart, she has an "immature" section of heart cells next to the pacemaker

that can't wait all of the time for the cheerleaders, 

so every tenth beat or so, they shout, "PUMP!"

He said most of the time, 

the cheerleaders tell this immature group of cells to "Grow up, you're so immature!"

And, they usually do.

So two days in NICU, and lots of monitoring & doctors visits later,

our prognosis seems to be good.

I'd just like those cells to hurry up and grow up.

But you, Charley, take your time, little one.

She's Here!

Almost two weeks later than her estimated due date, sweet Charley Drew was finally coaxed out, with the help of lots of Pitocin.

We will be posting lotsa pictures soon enough! These are a few taken moments after she was born. Thanks to all for your thoughts and prayers!

Big Bear

 We went to Big Bear this weekend,

in search of snow, and...

this is all we found!  

It may have been machine-made, and icy, but...

 We were there with our sweet cousins:

Caitlyn, Ryle, Caleb & Eliza,

 and we couldn't have picked better company!

Botanic Gardens: Our New Favorite Place!

Claire and Maya, a friend of mine and her adorable daughter 

(who calls the girls "Charlie and Lola," a nick-name we've come to love &

honestly, probably part of the reason we've been calling their soon-to-be-little-sister "Charley.")

 Thanks to Claire and Maya for introducing us to the Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens.

We took daddy back there with us to show him our new favorite place.

 They provide you with nets for catching tadpoles...

and binoculars for looking at the tadpoles up close after catching them.

We mustn't forget that after all of our tadpole fun,

we have to return them to their pond, so they can go home to their mommies and daddies!

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Nola's Co-op Christmas Program was today.

 She shined on stage, but had a bit of a hard time figuring out where the audience was...

That didn't matter to her most loyal fans:

Payton and Daddy

(and Mommy, too!)

H-O-T-T

It's crazy hot here in Camarillo.  Less than a week ago, we were bundled up for trick-or-treating (Aunt Jaimee filled in as Buzz Lightyear, as Nick held down the spooky fort)

and today, we shed the layers and set out for the beach...

We picked up our sweet friends, the Fraziers, and had a wonderful afternoon at the beach.

 Rinsing the sand off.  Clothing optional, apparently.

Getting Crafty this Fall

Heading into the last trimester of pregnancy, I've officially started nesting.  And by nesting, I mean crafting. My craftsmanship leaves something to be desired, but it doesn't really stop me from getting out the glue gun and getting to work.  Here are a couple of the October projects that I wanted to share:

Pottery Barn Countdown Calendar Knockoff

I got the "how-to" from this site, but have to warn anyone else wanting to embark on this type of project, you will spend way more than the $20 implied by the site, and it will take a really long time.  At least that was the case for me, as anything like this has to be done after the girls go to sleep.  In my case, this calendar was started in late September, and was completed a few days before Halloween. I have a feeling that the average person could probably do it faster and cheaper, but I can't wait to break this calendar out for many Halloweens to come.

 Stuffed Pepper Jack-o-Lanterns, pre-baked

Cooked Jack-o-Lantern

If you hung out in the Akl Household for a couple of weeks, one dinner that you can count on eating would be stuffed peppers.  This month, we decided to carve our peppers into mini Jack-o-Lanterns, and it totally made our routine-twice-a-month-stuffed-pepper-dinner SPOOKTACULAR!