More pics of Alyssa Kate

Here are some more pictures of our sweet daughter Alyssa.

Tiny precious cargo.

Here we are being discharged from the hospital.

The first car ride home.

Doug's girls sleeping in a world of pink.

Great Grandma and Alyssa.

All swaddled up in pink.

Doug's hand looks huge next to little Alyssa.

Where's Waldo? No, where's Alyssa?

Alyssa Kate Higham

So I went into labor at 11PM on Wednesday and on Thursday January 24, 2008 at 9:14AM our little girl Alyssa Kate was born. She was 7lbs. 6 oz. and 19 1/2 inches long. She was wide awake for an hour after she was born. We love her cute chubby cheeks and she truly is a blessing.

<

Weekly Visit

So I had my weekly visit with the doctor today and I am dialated to a 4 and at station +1. Kinda crazy, since I feel just fine and have had hardly any contractions. My doctor said that if I were admitted I could get my epidural right now. So slowly but surely we're making our way there. We will keep you posted.

Notes from the Underbelly

Doug and I started watching "Notes from the Underbelly" last year. It's 2nd season just started right before Christmas and we were excited it got picked up for another season. We laugh all the time at the show (mostly because the main couple, Andrew and Lauren, are going through the same pregnancy woes we are). So if you haven't seen it check it out, it's on Monday nights on ABC around 9:30PM. Even if you're not pregnant the writing is pretty witty. Doug and I watched the show before we were pregnant and were still laughing hysterically.

Sleep Talking...

With 11 days to go you could say sleeping has become a bit uncomfortable, so obviously I tend to fidget a lot right now in bed trying to get comfortable (a seemingly impossible task). Last night Doug in his semi-conscious state declared "This has got to end...you should start walking up and down the stairs". Evidently, my tossing and turning was causing him to lose his beauty sleep. Whatever! I'd like to see him lie oh so still when having contractions, back pain, a baby kicking inside you, accompanied with the constant need to pee every couple hours through out the night.

Progress!

Hello, hello! So I had my weekly doctor appointment yesterday and I am making some progress towards labor and delivery (dilated to 2 1/2 and 50% effaced..not bad after last week). So officially I'm working till 2/1/08, so this may pose a problem if she decides to be early...I was not counting on that.

Tonight some good friends from our ward are throwing a shower for me and Doug's firm is throwing him a baby shower next week.

We will keep you posted and will be sure to post pics on the blog once she arrives.

Count Down

Well as you can see by our ticker we are counting down. I've started my weekly Dr. appointments. I can't tell you what a lovely experience those are...just a bit invasive. As of yesterday's visit there really is no change, so I'm thinking baby Higham (we still don't have a name we agree upon) is going to be stubborn (just like Doug and I) and be late. Can't say that I blame her...it's been cold here.

In the meantime Brett and Doug put the baby crib together and I have been washing baby clothes and sheets and will take some pics soon to post. It's so cute..I love it!

The Melting Pot!

On Saturday night Doug and I went to the Melting Pot with Rachel and Brett. It was absolutely amazing! Rachel and Brett gave us a gift card to go and it was such a fun experience. Doug and I have never been to the Melting Pot or La Fondue, but we have heard amazing things. We ate way too much. We started with a cheese fondue one spinach and artichoke and one cheddar. The spinach and artichoke one was so yummy. We then had salad and then they brought out the main course. The entrees included sirloin, chicken, shrimp, ravioli, filet mignon and pork. They had two different fondues that you cook your meat. Yum! Lastly...dessert...we had the flaming turtle (chocolate, caramel and pecans) and the original (chocolate and crunchy peanut butter) with strawberries, pound cake, cheesecake, bananas, marshmallows, brownies...so so good. We had a blast and it was so yummy. Thanks Rachel and Brett for a great Birthday gift!

Christmas!

Here are some pics from Christmas. My parents were visiting us from Hawaii. It was fun to have them here. Next year we'll have an 11-month old running around...crazy.

Here I am with my brother David, his girl friend Jessica, my Aunt Becky and Uncle Mike. We had a fabulous Christmas dinner at my grandparent's house and opened Christmas gifts.

Mom and dad and my grandma and grandpa.

My cousins Megan and Bryan

While my parent's were in town we went to the OC performing Arts Theater to see the Christmas Spectacular with the NY Radio City Music Hall Rockettes. The show was amazing! At the end of the show there is living nativity, which was very well done.

Liz's Baby Shower

My Aunt Debbie, friends Jane and Erin threw me a baby shower...so sweet of them to do so! I had a blast and it was so much fun...little girl things are just too cute!

Our Ward's Far-Out 70's Christmas Party!

Doug and I are members of our church's activities committee and this year to mix it up the committee decided to have a 70's themed Christmas party (not our idea). That's right! So here are Doug and I decked out in 70's gear. Doug is sporting some skin-tight royal blue polyester pants and some sweet aviator glasses..control yourselves ladies...he's taken!

Twister, hula-hooping, a white elephant gift exchange, lots of casseroles, and chocolate fondue were all a part of our evening's events. It definitely was memorable.

Go Utes!

Doug and I went with our friends Brad, Lisa and baby Morley to the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego last night to watch the Utes play against the Navy Midshipmen. And yes...the Utes were VICTORIOUS! It was chilly but lots of fun. Final score 35-32.

A trial run to labor and delivery...

On Sunday evening I came down with a stomach bug or the flu. Not fun even when you're not preggers. So after keeping nothing down for a few hours and having some nice regular strong contractions, we called the doctor who said to come in. Hopefully the baby wasn't ready to come out just yet cause we sure are not ready for her. Doug says he needs another 6 weeks to prepare.
Anyways, so we arrive at labor and delivery and I get hooked up to everything, contraction monitor, fetal monitor and an IV with lots of fluids. My new best friend is the anti-nausea medicine they put in my IV. My contractions were still pretty strong after I drained a bag of IV fluid, so they gave me a shot to stop the contractions. So after a few hours they discharged us and I'm feeling a lot better. Doug calls this experience our trial run so we know what to expect when the real deal happens.

Cutie Petutie

Hello hello..yes I've promised pictures and I assure you they're on the way. My Aunt and friends threw me a shower and my friend Mary gave me this beautiful blanket. Her sister makes these blankets. Here's her website http://www.cutiepetutieoriginals.com/

Anyways my blanket is a bit different the cow print is light and dark brown instead of black and white, but it is so dang cute and so so soft...I absolutely love it!

We passed!

Congratulations to Doug and I for passing the Preparation for Childbirth class! I find it very humorous that they give you a certificate of completion; considering that regardless of whether you pass or fail you still are going to have to go through childbirth.

So I've managed to avoid all child birth videos in all of my health classes...so not the case here. They made us watch THREE...evidently one video wasn't scary enough. I'm not sure what was more disturbing having to watch the videos or seeing the expression on Doug's face as he was watching each video. Of course Doug was like couldn't they find attractive people to film the birth...maybe the miracle of life wouldn't be so uncomfortable to watch if Heidi Klum and Seal were the main characters. Either way, I give mad props to anyone who's gone through natural child birth. For me..I say bring on the drugs...nubain an epidural, let me have it! Doug says he's willing to test out the pain meds just to make sure they work alright.

60 Days and Counting...

So I've been a slacker with blogging lately, but I noticed today my ticker was at the 60 day mark until the arrival of our baby girl. Crazy! I never thought we would see the day when the countdown would be in double digits when we were in the 100-200 and so days. This weekend Doug and I have our "birth class". I'm not looking forward to it, hopefully it doesn't scare me too much cause it's a little late now.

Thanksgiving was spent in Tucson, Arizona where we saw lots of Highams and saguaro cactus. It was fun to see Tami and her kids. She introduced us to a fun new card game. Doug's sister Rachel and her family were there, Jimmy and Christi, Adam, Debbie, and the kids on the mission (Becky, Liz and Michael). Lots of fun! We went to a drive-in one night and saw Enchanted and the Game Plan (it was 45 degrees when we left the drive-in after the double feature). Doug and I were snuggled together in the back of our SUV with blankets and pillows...brr.


We also celebrated Doug's birthday in mid-November. I have some pics from his birthday I will try and get posted.

Hawaii 2007

Aloha! We made it back from the land of surf and sun. Hawaii was absolutely wonderful. Doug and I went to the Dole plantation for yummy pineapple ice-cream...so good. We then went to Sunset Beach and of course Matsumato's for shave ice. I recommend the guava, strawberry and watermelon. We also visited Lanikai Beach which has the softest sand imaginable.

We spent a few days at Waikiki and Doug was able to do some body boarding. We also rented some snorkel gear..sorry no pic of me looking like a beached whale with my fins and snorkel mask..Doug did take a pic at this moment it's still on our underwater camera.

We spent one day at the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC) where we ran into AJ and his wife Bibian. It's always fun to run into people you know, but haven't seen in a long while. The luau and shows were amazing at the PCC. Doug did awesome in his spear throwing at one of the villages.

It was so lovely to just lounge at the beach, probably one of the last times we'll be able to both relax and sleep at the beach. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. It was definitely hard to come back to work. Our flight back was a red eye from Honolulu to LAX...not something I recommend to anyone ever, especially if you're 7 months pregnant.

Birthday wishes and a Halloween Party

We finally downloaded our pics from my birthday and the ward Halloween Party and Hawaii. The ward Halloween party/trunk-or-treat and my birthday were on the same day. Doug says he invited the whole ward to my party at the church...so anyway here are pics of us in our costumes. Doug as Rocky Balboa (who won the Manliest Man award) and me as a surgeon....no cows for Liz. Also excuse the pjs in my birthday pic...we finally celebrated with some gifts and red velvet Sprinkles cupcakes at mid-night.

In the land of Surf and Sun

Aloha!

After a very busy week with southern California wildfires, ward Adult Conference, and trunk-or-treat Doug and I decided to get out of smokey California and head to Hawaii. Well we had this tripped planned a few months ago, but it seems like perfect timing after a long and busy couple of weeks.

We will have lots of pics to post once we return. Doug was Rocky Balboa for the ward Halloween Party and I was a surgeon. Doug won the Manliest Man award at the ward party for his costume...such a stud!

Hawaii has been perfect the whole couple of days we've been here so far. We're loving it!

Fire!

Hello, hello! So fires are raging through southern California. San Diego and Valenia are facing the worst in regards to homes being burnt and families being evacuated from their homes. The fires in the OC (the Santiago Fire) came awfully close to a lot of our friends homes in Foothill Ranch and Portola Hills. As I look out my back window I can see the flames and dark grey smoke billowing off the foothills (fortunately traveling away from our house). I'll post a picture tonight. Doug and I are good and from where our house is positioned we should be safe from the fire. (The pic above is from the 241 toll road which Doug drives to work everyday...he says it's been surreal.)