scenes from Thalia's life

Thalia sleeps...


Hangs out with her Omi...


Tries out her bouncy seat (which she quite likes, we think)...


Wears cute, possibly embarrassing outfits chosen by her parents...



And since this blog is supposed to be about the entire Menagerie, we offer this,

Those of you who know Vasco and Lucy know that this is unprecedented! Lucy usually is terrified of Vasco and runs away from where ever Vasco is. Well, this time, Vasco gave Lucy several licks, did NOT follow up with bites, and then settled down, snuggled up next to Lucy. And Lucy didn't move! So cute. We think they may be bonding over the fact that they aren't the babies anymore.....

Baby yoga

In which Thalia practices for Downward-facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana),


or maybe Dolphin Pose,






She's at least got the hips/butt high in the air part down pat!
For some reason she particularly likes to do this while resting on her Dad's chest.

Thalia: Coming Home

Thalia was born on Sunday morning (3:43 am to be precise). We stayed at the hospital for the rest of Sunday, all day Monday, and the first part of Tuesday.

All systems were go, and we could have checked out on Monday, but we decided to enjoy the free baby help and stay an extra day. By Tuesday, we were definitely ready to leave, ready for the comforts of our own bed (even if only for a few hours at a time), and ready to start figuring out our new life.

So we loaded Thalia into her carseat (she snoozed, the whole way out of the hospital, the whole way home, and for a while after we got home-- we left her in the seat!).


Soon we wrapped her up in one of her swaddling blankets (our little burrito!) and set her in her moses basket.


It's fun dressing baby in all of her different outfits. Here she appears to be practicing her Heisman Trophy moves... photo of Trophy


On Friday, Thalia got to meet her Connecticut grandparents, Grandma and Papa Foster.


They seemed to like her.... and the feeling was mutual.


On Saturday, Thalia got to meet her cousin/primo Jack (Tio Roberto's son). Jack was quite taken with her, even giving her a little kiss before he left.


Stay tuned for more!

More pictures

Internet connection seems to be working a bit better today, and we've received some pictures from Daniela's mom and from our wonderful doula, Rebecca. At some point today, I will be stopping by the house (to get the carseat ready to go for when we leave the hospital sometime tomorrow!), so I plan to pick up the computer cable and get a few more pics uploaded.

So keep checking! Also, I have a bunch of pictures already up on Facebook-- if you're not already on Facebook, you should consider signing up. It's really useful and not just for "the kids" any more...

Here's Thalia with her Omi.


And meeting her Tio Roberto, who brought gifts and a beautiful poem he wrote in her honor:


A very tired looking Dad, watching baseball with his daughter (hopefully next year we'll be watching the Twins in the playoffs!):


And one picture from Thalia's birth, taken by our doula. This is seconds after Thalia was born-- Daniela lifted her out of her body, and she was immediately put on her chest, while nurses towelled her off a bit. I was sobbing rather hysterically at this point.

Thalia Adelita Bell

A couple of rather low-quality pictures (taken with my iPhone in fairly low light; at some point soon, I'll get my camera cord and post some better ones!).....

The vital stats:

Name: Thalia Adelita Bell (Thalia has a silent 'h' and rhymes with the flower, dahlia)

Born: 5 October 2008, 3:43 a.m.

Weight: 9 lb., 7 oz.

Length: 21 3/4 inches

Head: 14 1/4 inch circumference

The story (short version): Daniela began having contractions on Thursday; by the middle of Thursday night, she was awakening frequently with fairly strong ones (she very kindly let me sleep, unaware of what was happening, and also unaware that this was my last good night's sleep for a loooong time).  She labored at home all day Friday; that night she decided she wanted to call the doula (Rebecca).  Rebecca came and helped with the labor all through the night Friday.  At times it looked like the baby's arrival might well be imminent (little did we know!).  On Saturday at around noon, we decided the time was right to go to the hospital to at least find out where things stood.  We were told that substantial progress had been made, but there was still lots of work to do.  Daniela worked the rest of the day on Saturday, then all through the night, till the birth at just short of 4 a.m.  We were alone in our room by 6:00 or so, and thanks to Thalia being exhausted from her journey, we were all able to get some much-needed sleep.

That's about it for right now-- we have e-mail access in our room, and Eric's cell phone is getting good reception, so feel free to drop us a line!  We're looking forward to introducing Thalia to all of you soon!