i voted
Originally uploaded by telfandrea.

Cate won't actually be able to vote until 2026 (!) but she still scored the envied "I voted" sticker (being so cute helped). I was a little worried about voting yesterday after hearing all the "I-waited-in-line-for-six-hours" stories but literally, my voting experience last seven minutes, car door to car door.

We had a classic Telfer and Andrea election results party last night. Ridiculous amounts of cheese and carbohydrates as well as a fine wine we broke out for the occasion. Watching Obama win last night was a night to remember. It gives me faith in my country (and puts a kabosh on the plan to move to Canada if the night had gone another direction).

Anyhow, hopefully all of you still love me after the last comment. In other news, Cate and I were at a local baby store buying another hat (she needed a brown one) and the sales clerk mentioned that the store had a baby scale in back. The girl weighs in at 9 lbs! So tell me this moms: how come hardly any of her 0-3 month clothing fit yet (pants are too long, onesies are too long & too wide)?

i want candy
Originally uploaded by telfandrea.

Cate is pictured here in one of her Halloween outfits (somehow, she has two) and Henry will be decked out in his convict costume again this year. Bring on the trick-or-treaters!

bathtime – three weeks old
Originally uploaded by telfandrea.

Cate is three weeks old today and Telfer and I finally feel like we are settling into life with a baby. I feel better for sure, although I am still anemic and a little weak. Mendy stayed with us until last Wednesday and was so much help…I have a feeling she won't be able to stay away for too long.

Telfer also had vacation all of last week. We took Cate to the Yard House for lunch to celebrate her daddy's birthday on Tuesday. On Thursday, we took Cate all the way into Los Angeles to attend her first literary event (Marilynne Robinson, author of Gilead and Home, at the LAPL). I get a little type A (is this a surprise?) taking Cate out into public, but we figure, really, our window of opportunity for doing some things (literary events, long lunches) with a child is a small one…

alyce & cate & their moms
Originally uploaded by telfandrea.

Cate met her first aunt and uncle set as well as her first cousin, Alyce. So fun. Austin and Adrielle spent Saturday at our house, totally spoiling us with three kinds of amazing homemade pizza and two kinds of equally amazing pie (I just had a piece of pumpkin a minute ago). Adrielle, needless to say, was very busy in the kitchen the entire time she was here.

It makes me very happy to know that Cate will have TWO cousins less than a year older – Alyce is ten months older and Neva is five months older…

two weeks old today
Originally uploaded by telfandrea.

Last Monday I felt great, really great. The spinal headache was gone, Cate was doing good, we all even went out to dinner. No one told me how HUNGRY breastfeeding would make me.

But then on Wednesday afternoon, I walked Cate into her room to change her diaper (meanwhile Henry is loudly stalking a lizard in the dining room – we still haven't found it…) and started to bleed heavily. Like grisly-murder-in-our-house type of bleeding. Fortunately, Telfer was on his way home and we immediately went to the hospital. I had a D&C to remove a little leftover piece of the placenta, which honestly, wouldn't have been that big of a deal except that I began hemorrhaging after the surgery and lost half my blood volume. Two blood transfusions, one night in the hospital with a fast-food eating roommate, a husband who couldn't stay in the said room and a breast-feeding baby left us pretty discouraged at the end of last week.

Again with God's timing…Mendy's visit coincided with most of the trauma/drama and she has been absolutely invaluable help, as has Telfer (who had to forgo a professional trip to Florida this weekend). Today I feel pretty good: I am showered and dressed and I think we are even going out to lunch with Chris and Mendy to celebrate Telfer's birthday (tomorrow). I am so thankful for so many things. God is good all of the time.

There are lots of new pictures on the flickr link. Cate is getting chubbier and naturally, we think she is the cutest baby in the world. And she is getting a little cranky at the moment so I had better go…