Cairo's Tricks

At the advanced age of 7 days Cairo showed us mulitple times her new tricks. I was only able to get two tricks on film, but what good tricks. Cairo is very wiggly when she is not held. She is very good at kicking all her blankets off, breaking out of a swaddle, and, the big one, turning onto her side (The above two pictures show the before and after). Erik has also taught her to suck on a binky. Last night she got the hang of it and was sucking away for hours. This kept her happy, calm, and NOT nursing when she wasn't hungry (she tends to want to nurse whether she is hungry or not). Cairo's other trick is sucking on either her thumb or pointer finger. When the binky wasn't around Cairo settles herself by sucking on her hands. She sucks on her thumb or pointer finger with her palm facing her face and her other fingers laying across her fnose and cheeks. This morning when Cairo was waking up I looked in on her and she was happily sucking away.

Erik and I have not been able to capture a good picture of Cairo's eyes. Because all her pictures show her with her eyes closed, we have been asked whether she sleeps all the time. According to her Aunt Heather, this is true. Aunt Heather is convinced that Cairo is an angel, sleeps all the time, and never fusses. Stick around here for the midnight hour, Aunt Heather, when Cairo is determined to make her mommy's life miserable by fussing, wanting to be constantly nursed, and refusing to be set down... until after 3 in the morning. Anyway, back to her eyes... I snapped a not so good picture of them this morning. The blue of her eyes are slowly changing from a dark blue to a light blue like Erik and my eyes.

Daddy and his girl

There is nothing cuter than a baby and their daddy napping together. Cairo hates sleeping alone in her crib, loves sleeping close to Erik and I. She loves to touch and grab stuff and especially loves skin to skin contact. She sleeps best when our skin is touching her face or hands. Yesterday, Erik and Cairo fell asleep cuddling... I couldn't help but take about 50 pictures of them doing nothing but sleeping. Though the first week is challeging, Erik has really taken to being a dad. He is great with her and she really responds to his voice and his touch. I have a feeling that she is going to grow up to be a Daddy's Girl. Here are a few of my favorite pictures.



From this next picture you can tell that Cairo HATES diaper changes. This is what Cairo looks like when she is less than happy.

Erik and I are enjoying picking out what pieces of her come from Erik and which ones come from me. A close up of her hands show that she had her dad's hands and fingers and not her mom's stubby little ones... the same goes with her feet.

Good News!!! I finally get to have my kidney stones taken care of. I go into surgery on Friday and I will be out of commission all weekend. Grandma Biggle is more than ready to put in a helping hand taking care of Cairo while I am recovering... Grandma just can't seem to get enough on her. Can you blame her?

New Entertainment

It is amazing how much life has changed. I knew going into this that everything would be different, but with each day that has gone by I am getting a better idea of how drastic that change is. I am curious about the next time I will get 8 straight hours of sleep. If Cairo doesn't wake me up to be fed, I find myself waking up to make sure that she is okay. So far, so good.

Cairo was definitely worth the wait. So far, she has already offered Erik and I hours of entertainment. Her silly faces, snorting sounds, terrible pictures, high-pitched sighs, and little actions keep both Erik and I smiling and looking for more. With my c-section it hurts to laugh, but seeing Cairo in her carseat for the first time was more than I could control. I couldn't stop laughing. She was so scrunched up and looked so tiny in that big carseat...


Today, Cairo must have been unhappy with me because I looked down and she was giving me the finger... much to her dad's extreme enjoyment. So young and so strong in her opinions.


As I mentioned before, Cairo likes to suck on anything she can get... She is attemping to nurse with anything that comes near her mouth, whether it is her grandpa, her hands, her blanket, the carseat strap, or the end of my nose. Today, she got a good grip of my nose and vigorously sucked away.

Cairo seems to be especially comfortable in my arms. When she falls asleep in them it is almost easier to let her stay there than to move her anywhere else. When dinnertime comes, though, this becomes a little challenging for me... especially with a messy tostada. I figured a papertowel would keep the majority of my tostada off of her. The paper towel was covered with beans and lettuce by the time I finished.


Cairo tends to fall alseep with her mouth wide-open... just like her dad. They pose a striking resemblence to each other. What do you think?

Carrot Top

A few weeks ago while grocery shopping at Whole Foods, Erik came across an organically made carrot top hat. He could not resist and made his first ever purchase for the baby. Cairo has a little growing to do before she can fit it perfectly, but she has been wearing it around. In the picture with the carrot hat, you can see that shirt she is swimming in. At the hospital, it appears, the clothes they have are one size fits all... a shirt made for an 18 pound baby. We figure Cairo would be able to fit into it somewhere near her first birthday.







Now, all babies are cute, but they are not always that photogenic. Cairo has given us a lot of cute pictures... and a lot of not so cute pictures. Her face always seems to scrunch up right before the camera takes the picture. As you can see, the pictures posted show a wonderful display of the cute and not so cute.

Cairo Raine Dedini is here!

Cairo Raine is fully cooked and hatched!

Here are some pictures from Wednesday. First, this is right before going into the OR. They have monitors on my belly to check and monitor the baby's heartbeat and monitor my contractions. Second, Cairo, fresh from my belly in the OR, on the scale. Third, me on the operating table, glad that the baby is healthy and happy and waiting to be stiched closed (as you can see, I am in NO pain). Fourth, Cairo's first up-close. Isn't she cute! Last, Daddy all dressed up in his delivery garb... he didn't take it off for hours... and then he saved it to bring home. (Nice poofy hat, Dedini!)








At 8:02 am on Wednesday, June 20th Cairo was pulled from my belly via a successful (and, now, a little painful) c-section. It was a good thing we made the decision to have her c-section because her cord was wrapped around her neck and would have made a vaginal delivery VERY risky or even impossible. She was 20.5 inches long (the same as her dad) and she weighed a whopping 6lbs 14oz. She has my lips and grumpy expression and when she falls asleep with her mouth open she is the spitting image of her father. She has brown and blond hair on her head, but I think she will lose it all and end up super blond. At the moment her eyes are a deep blue... if you can ever see her eyes. She likes to keep her eyes closed and occassionally she will open one eye and stare at you like a pirate.... arrr!

Cairo came out sucking on her hands and seems to have an affection for her fingers. Anything she can get into her mouth she takes... her hands, blanket, people's fingers or nuckles, and, of course, me! When Cairo was in my belly, the ultrasound pictures showed her with her hands up by her mouth and it is neat to see that the ultrasound gave good insight into something she would like to do on the outside.

I know that the dogs are going to get a kick out of her because when she cries she sounds like one of their squeaky toys.

We have had people ask about her name... no, there is no special meaning and I can't even remember who came up with the name or where we found it. We just liked the way it sounded... it is unique, but not too off the wall...

(Sorry for the spelling mistakes... I am not in the mood to proof read and, also, I can't spell!)

The baby will be here tomorrow!

I feel as though I have been pregnant forever! The last few months have been especially challenging.... but it is all about to come to an end! The doctor has just scheduled the baby to be born via c-section tomorrow at 7:30 in the morning. It seems that, like my mother, my pelvic bone is just too narrow to have babies naturally. There is a chance that it would work, but my doctor thought it unlikely. On top of my narrow pelvic bone, there is the problem of my kidney stones. My doctor wanted to induce me so that I can, after close to 3 months, get my kidney stones taken care of. The kidney stones have been causing a considerable amount of pain over the past few weeks... well, with me needing to be induced and my narrrow pelvic bone it was a lot less risky to go ahead and schedule a c-section. So, Erik and I will be off to the hospital bright and early tomorrow to bring our first baby into the world.

The baby will be born on the last day of spring and will end up a Gemini just like her mom. She will be 5 weeks younger than her cousin Mei, I am sure that she will enjoy having a cousin so close in age. I know it is silly, but I was hoping that she would be born on an even day, so the 20th it is. My Nana won't have to get another birthstone on her family ring, because there is already one for June. School is out for the summer so Erik and I currently have NOTHING to do but wait for the baby. It seems that everything is in perfect alignment.

Now that we are ready for a girl, I sure hope that it is a girl we get! In 15 hours we will find out....