Gretel Meets Felix

 Big sister Gretel gets ready to go meet her brother Felix for the first time.  Below, her first look at baby Felix!

 The Decks and Hesses come for a visit.  Grandpa Bear brings delicious food for all!

 Sally and Soleo hold Felix while Orion and Gretel hang out.

Both Felix and Gretel were exhausted after the visit!

Baby Felix is here!

Felix Fisher Fitzwilliam Deck was born on Friday, April 20th at 10:57PM.  He weighed in at 7lbs 3oz and was 19.5 inches long.  Felix means happy, lucky and fortunate, all things that we hope will be consistent for this little guy as he goes through life.  We couldn't ask for a more healthy, beautiful baby.

Above, the whiteboard at the hospital tracks our progress through labor.  We arrived at about 9:15, got settled by 9:30 at which time I was 4cm dilated.  By 10pm our midwife Linda Adams was there and the contractions were getting quite intense.  She broke my water at 10:20 and things really heated up.  By 10:51 I was completely dilated and beginning to push.  Felix made his appearance 6 minutes later at 10:57pm, much to everyone's relief and excitement!  The birth was so fast and furious that he hadn't a scratch or blotch on his body - just the perfect specimen of baby!  We feel incredibly thankful and lucky.

Easter 2012

We had a wonderful Easter this year, thanks to some terrific weather and great family!  We started with brunch at our house, followed by an Easter egg hunt in the backyard, then a walk in the park.  It was Gretel's first year of really understanding the ritual, and she enjoyed herself tremendously!

The Final Countdown

There's less than a month to go before we're a family of four! Our friend Andy took some belly pictures of me when we were at his house for dinner a few weeks ago. This is probaby a 34 week belly shot and I already feel significantly bigger. The midwife has informed us that this baby will likely be larger than Gretel's 6lbs 15oz. Makes me a bit nervous but I'm sure it will all go smoothly. We'll post pictures of the little nerd when he/she arrives!

We've Moved Upstairs!

With some help from Uncle Brian, we've finally trimmed out the upstairs and made some improvements so we could move our bedroom up there. It's a big enough space for us plus a nook for Baby Bambi (Gretel's newest favorite name) when he/she arrives. We feel downright spoiled by all the extra space!

The boys trimmed out the whole space and opened up the closet to make it more functional. Casey added electrical to the closet so that I could see my clothes, and I made curtains for the windows and closet. We even have light fixtures up there as well as in the hallway, and a handrail going down the stairs! Will wonders never cease??!

Auntie Sally Lackaff's Birthday

We spent Auntie Sally's birthday weekend with her and Roger in Astoria. We had a great visit, with lots of outings - to the park, to the beach and to the aquarium. Gretel and all thoroughly enjoyed themselves!