Hospital Photo

Here is Sara just before we checked out of the hospital on Tuesday. We got to select the hat from off a Christmas tree at the hospital!

Early Bird

Surprise, surprise...our little girl decided to come 4 weeks early!!

My water broke just before 7:00 AM on Friday morning, and off to the hospital we went! After a few complications (like my doctor not being available since it was the day after Christmas, and the resident doctor not checking her position with an ultrasound when we first arrived so we had to wait through 17 hours of contractions and poor progress dilating before the nurse finally realized "that's not a head I'm feeling!" -- THEN an ultrasound was done to confirm she was breech! and a c-section was performed)...

Sara Christine Hinckley was born Saturday, December 27th at 5:11 AM
7 lbs 3 oz., 18.5 inches

Mother and baby are doing well! For being 4 weeks early, she certainly isn't "preemie" sized!

So far we think she looks more like her Daddy. For the first two days of her life, she's enjoyed a lot of eating and sleeping, and that's about it!

Welcome, our little angel!

Bippy Harthday

My birthday was last week and Rob surprised me with this piece of fancy cake. We took some photos to remember the occasion......notice anything particularly strange about this photo? It was not been altered in any way.

Cinnamony Goodness

The results of what can be accomplished while staying up all night to bake Christmas goodies. YUM!!

-- reply to this post today if you want one. :)

the bakery is open late

... I just realized my post title has a double meaning. I've got "a bun in the oven" and am also waiting to put actual buns in the oven! HA!!

I'm up right now at 12:46 on Christmas morning (or Christmas Eve, whichever way you look at it) waiting for the homemade cinnamon roll wreaths Rob and I started making earlier this evening to rise so we can bake them. Rob's asleep in bed, with thoughts of sugar-plumb fairies dancing in his head. I wish that's where I was! But when you start a massive baking project at 8:00 PM, you don't plan on getting to bed too early!

Merry Christmas everyone!

More Belly Photos

My cousin's wife did a photoshoot with us on Saturday. She's getting started with a photography business and wanted some pregnancy photos for her portfolio. We did an urban, outdoor shoot (in the snow!) in downtown Salt Lake. It was fun! To see more, visit her blog by clicking here.

WE GOT AN OFFER!!

After having our condo on the market for just over two months now, we finally got an offer today! YIPPEE-HOORAY! The offer came in at only $1,900 less than what we're asking, and it's a cash buyer! Which means we don't have to worry about their loan falling through or something. The only down sides? Horrible timing! (or perfect timing, depending on which way you look at it). They want to close on January 16th, which is only 6 days before my due date!! BUT they are buying it for their daughter to live in, and she doesn't have to be out of her current place until the first of March, so potentially we could close on the 16th and then rent it back from them for a month or so, if they'd be up for that. So I guess we just have to decide if we want to try to move before the baby comes or wait until after. I'm voting for wait until after! But we have to make sure the buyers are okay with that first. Let's hope so!! Because otherwise it's going to be a rough month trying to pack up all our stuff AND find a new place to move into, AND have the Holidays, AND be 8 months pregnant, AND finish buying all the baby stuff we still need, AND .... did I mention I'm 8 months pregnant?? YIKES! Gonna be a busy month!

p.s. ~ I know we've been trying to sell our place and that this one-bedroom condo is just too small for us once the baby comes, but now that we actually have an offer, I'm a little bit sad! To tell you the truth, I was kinda hoping we wouldn't get any offers until after the baby came and we re-listed in the Spring. Is that weird? I mean, we're excited to be able to move into a bigger place and everything, but this is our first place, and it's gonna be sad to sell it and move out. We've really liked living here. Plus, I'm just not too excited about all the business that comes with moving, plus stacking on top of that having a baby in the middle of it which will basically put our lives on hold for a few weeks! Anyway, just getting a little sentimental, that's all.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Today is the first time it's really felt like the Christmas season to me. Rob and I left this morning to drop Rob off at work, and during the time we were in the car, it started to snow. (off topic -- during the transition from rain to snow, I started singing a made up parody version of "Should I Stay or Should I Go". It goes a little something like this: "Should I rain or should I snow now. If I rain there will be trouble....but if I snow there will be double. So c'mon and let me know! Should I rain or should I snow." -- yes, I am a nerd for those of you who didn't already know.) ANYWAY...by the time I got back home it was snowing pretty heavily, and when I walked into our condo the heater was blowing and the lights on our newly purchased Christmas trees (a grouping of the three little ones of varying heights) were glowing at the back of the room. And in that moment, it felt like Christmas.

Moving to the Coast!

Ok, no we're not, but after spending two days there over the Thanksgiving holiday, we sure want to! The weather was PERFECT and was a nice change from chili Utah (even though this year we actually got a Fall--it's been pretty nice weather in Salt Lake). But at the beach, the sun was shining and it was actually warm. It was great. We went with my parents (just the 4 of us -- nobody else wanted to come!) and stayed at a nice beach-front hotel with great views of the ocean. We had our own room with a king-sized bed, fireplace, and mini kitchen! It was way nice (thanks for paying Dad!).

The tide was exceptionally low on Friday afternoon, so there was more wet sand than usual. In this photo I was pushing down on the sand with my foot to see the change in color as the sand pushed up and the water drained. I'm easily amused I guess! Also, it's a pretty good shot of my huge belly!

Mi Madre. Isn't this a great photo of her?

Daddy-Dear after returning from the surf. He was the only one brave enough to get in the water! (and the only one with a wet suit, hence his bravery.)

Out to the ocean.

We also ate at this fun restaurant that had polaroid photos plastered all over the walls of the entry (apparently it's a popular place for birthday dinners, and they take a polaroid of anybody celebrating such an occasion and add it to the wall). The servers also did some entertainment by pouring the water starting with the pitcher 3 feet above your glass! They also did another impressive trick which we got some video of. They pour water into a glass on somebody's head while blindfolded! It was pretty fun to watch.

We also got to spend time with my niece and nephew. Eli (the nephew) is 2 and it took some warming up to us before he would let us play with him, but then once you did something he liked you had to do it over and over and over!! Kaya (the niece) is 3 months and is all smiles! It's too bad we don't live closer so we can see them more often. We also played games with my siblings. A little Clue action, some Sorry (did you know there is a "grown-up" version of how to play? Much more strategy involved. You hold 5 cards at a time and decide which one to use instead of just drawing the top card and playing it immediately. Much more fun that way!) and of course, the Wii. It was nice to get away for a few days. We didn't want to leave! My mom and sister are coming up this weekend for a baby shower, so that will be fun to see them again so soon. We actually didn't see my sister for Thanksgiving. She spent it with her new in-laws. Anyway, it was a good trip. Yay for Turkey Day!

Bird Man

I saw a guy today who was walking home from the grocery store. He looked like a normal fellow at first, until I noticed the bird sitting on his shoulder. It was a parrot or a cockatoo or something, and it was just perched there, happy as can be! I wonder why it didn't fly away.... Wings clipped? Tied to the man somehow? Just really well trained? Anyway, it was a weird sight to see some dude walking around with his pet bird on his shoulder. Maybe he's a pirate....