Home to our new family!

Home! Actually, I have been home since Thursday, but this is the first moment I have had to do a blog. It's definitely a bit crazier bringing home baby two. My biggest concern, of course, was Lucy's reaction, but so far she has been pretty good. She's had a couple of meltdowns (one of which led to a mommy meltdown), but overall, she's been excited to tell us about the baby - "baby!" "eyes" "ears" "mouth" "baby sleeping" "baby eating" (when the baby is eating is usually when the meltdowns occur, but she was fine this morning.)

Here is little Sofie coming home from the hospital. I know things may change dramatically in the coming days, but so far, she is just a little sleepy head. She sleeps ALL the time, occasionally waking up to eat, but I often have to wake her up to do that.

Lucy meets Sofie!

Later that evening, after my parents went home, we had some special family time getting to know our new foursome. It was so sweet and pretty much melted my heart.

Sofia Lee Muilenburg - Welcome to the world baby girl!

Before I sign off, I just want to say "Thank You" to my Mom and Dad. I cannot express how much help you have been and how much easier the transition has been because you are here. I don't know too many people who would fly to Hong Kong two times in 18 months to help their crazy daughter and her husband have two kids. You both are the best and I love you so much.

I'll try to update the blog as much as possible, but life is definitely crazier with two! At least I don't have to go back to work! Yeah! (Although, hopefully, my working hiatus will end upon finding a job in Portland in the fall - keep your fingers crossed!)

Sofia Lee Muilenburg

Hello All,

Tracy and I are so excited to announce the birth of our beautiful little Sofia Lee Muilenburg, who came out to say hello today at 11:08am Hong Kong time. Sofie spent less time in the oven and looks so much smaller than her older sister did, but still came out a solid 7lb. 14oz. It was a planned c-section all the way, and I thought I would get to watch, but they had to go general anesthetic at the last minute so I had to wait a long hour outside before I found anything out. Tracy is truly the toughest person I know (incidentally I come in at 216th) with yet another foreign birth in a public hospital. Mother and baby are both doing great at Queen Mary Hospital and we hope to get them home in a couple of days. We are sending everyone our love.

Love,
Pete, Tracy, Lucy, and Sofie

Auntie Katy Turns 30!

I wish we could be there to celebrate with you, Kate, but hopefully this video will make you smile as you enter a new decade. We love you so much - may 30 be the best year yet!

A Couple of Interesting Videos (not Lucy)

This video absolutely grosses me out! I saw it on CNN the other day and this restaurant does actually exist in Hong Kong ... who came up with this idea and thought it would be a good idea for a restaurant and, more importantly, how is it making money???


On a happier note ... this video is from "America's Funniest Home Videos," I think. It is way too cute.


And finally ... here are a couple of pictures of our cute little leprechaun! Happy St. Patrick's Day! I love St. Patrick's Day ... what a good holiday.

9 Days To Go

Well, it's Sunday evening and I am headed into my last week of work. My maternity leave will take me until June 1st, but I think I may take the last three weeks off too. I'm feeling o.k. at this point, although I had a rough go of it on Thursday and Friday last week. The baby was doing something crazy to my tail bone and it hurt SOOOO bad. I was on the verge of tears pretty much the entire day on Friday (which made for such a productive day at work, let me tell you), but I woke up on Saturday and, miraculously, the pain was pretty much gone. Thanks, baby.
We went out to breakfast yesterday at a great place that makes western breakfasts, just like you can find at home. So good. Other than that, we have just been trying to spend as much time with Lucy as possible. She kisses her baby sister (my tummy) when we ask her to, but I don't think she has the faintest clue that there will actually be a baby entering her life in a little over a week. My parents arrive on Thursday evening and we are so excited for them to get here.
These pictures are from this afternoon before Pete took her out to play. I really wanted her to wear a barrette, but she likes looking at herself in the mirror and then taking it out.

Making Room for Baby

We went through all of the closets and cleaned out all the clothes and other things that Lucy no longer uses, and packed them in a box to be shipped home. Then we pulled out all the baby gear and cleared a shelf for the new baby's clothes in Lucy's room. It's going to be a tight fit around here for a while, but we're excited.
Lucy loved helping go through everything. She especially liked going through the shoes we had packed away for her. Look closely and you will see she is wearing Alaskan moccasins from Sue, our friend and Pete's former colleague. She also looks like a little rug rat here, but cute nonetheless.

In other news ... we have a date for the c-section: Tuesday, March 24th. My parents arrive in Hong Kong on the 19th and my last day of work will be the 20th. Ready or not - here she comes!