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Monday, June 28, 2010

Cartoonist Baby (aka Baby Z) is here!

Baby Z (aka Cartoonist Baby), the Early Days!

Cartoonist Baby sleeps through her family portrait

As you may have guessed from my sudden radio silence, Cartoonist Baby is finally here... and she is AMAZING! Masheka and I are so in love with our little girl, and just in awe of her. We've been home with Baby Z (her first initial) for a few days now, and in between nursing sessions, naps and diapering we pretty much just hold her and talk to her and stare at her in happy shock. I mean, really--look at this face!

Baby Z (aka Cartoonist Baby), the Early Days!

Now, when she finally decided to arrive, she certainly took her sweet baby time. I was in labor for FIVE DAYS before she deigned to make her appearance--I kid you not. I remember being scared by one of the videos I saw in my childbirth class about a woman who was in labor 48 hours, but our instructor assured us that was really, really rare. Ha! By hour 60 I was wishing to have that woman's labor. Though the sleep deprivation was certainly good preparation for around-the-clock nursing...

Here we are in the hospital recovery room the day after she was born:

Baby Z (aka Cartoonist Baby), the Early Days!

Sadly, due to my extremely long labor, I didn't get to use the birth center I was hoping for, but whatever. My midwives were amazing and the setting didn't really matter in the end--the only real bummer was that delivering in Labor & Delivery meant Masheka couldn't stay with me and baby overnight at the hospital, but he was there from 8:30 a.m. til 10:30 p.m. until we checked out.

By the way, Masheka is the sweetest and most devoted dad ever, in my totally unbiased opinion. He's pretty much doing everything except for nursing her, which is of course my full-time job these days--sometimes every hour!

Staring at her Daddy:

Baby Z (aka Cartoonist Baby), the Early Days!

Masheka and I dressing her for her trip home:

Baby Z (aka Cartoonist Baby), the Early Days!

All dressed!

Baby Z (aka Cartoonist Baby), the Early Days!

Most of the clothes I've sewn or knit for her are still way too big, but here she is in her pink hand-dyed Fool-Proof Baby Hat:

Baby Z (aka Cartoonist Baby), the Early Days!

And here's a middle-of-the-night diaper change photo of her in her Green Goblin diaper soaker, which is still a bit on the big side:

Baby Z (aka Cartoonist Baby), the Early Days!

And here she is checking out the Brooklyn view in one of the cloth diapers her Grandmommy Beryl made for her:

Baby Z (aka Cartoonist Baby), the Early Days!

Here's the full Flickr gallery.

And with that, I'm off to cuddle Baby Z and stare at her some more.

Baby Z (aka Cartoonist Baby), the Early Days!

72 comments:

  1. Congratulations, and welcome to the world, baby Z! She's adorable!

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  2. Great to hear she made her entrance to the world. She is adorable. I love new borns, they are so darn innocent and sweet. May blessings follow her all the days of her life...and you both too.

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  3. Congratulations! I've been keeping an eye out for news, and was hoping you'd post a picture. She is totally adorable. (I've been reading your blog for a couple of months now, getting inspired to sew a dress maybe later in the summer...)

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  4. That is one cute Cartoonist, quite possibly the cutest Cartoonist I've ever seen (and I've seen my fair share of Cartoonists)

    (sorry, I'm sure you won't take offense! LOL)

    Congratulations!! Z. really is beautiful!

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  5. Awww she is absolutely adorable!! Congratulations to you both, And welcome to the world Baby Z.

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  6. Congratulations to you both. She is gorgeous!

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  7. FIVE DAYS of labor?!? You definitely earned that adorable baby! Congratulations to you both and I look forward to seeing more of Z's sure-to-be-amazing baby wardrobe.

    P.S. This is my first time commenting, but I've been reading your blog for a while and have been really impressed with your maternity sewing alteration tutorials. Keep up the great blogging!

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  8. Yay! And congratulations to you both, but especially YOU because, well ... FIVE DAYS?? Yikes! She's adorable. Like you need me to tell you that. ;-)

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  9. Congratulations on the arrival of Baby Z - she's a sweetie!

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  10. Mazel tov! She's beautiful and looks so fully-formed already -- wow. Looking forward to hearing more about her and seeing her model all those great outfits!

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  11. What's 5 days when at the end of that hard, hard work, you get such a delightful prize? She is truly beautiful. Congratulations!

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  12. What a sweetie-pie! I was in labour for about 6 hours - and it was so traumatizing I still can't think about it a decade later. I don't know how you managed 5 days! It is good practice for the demands of parenting though :-)

    How much did she weigh and how long is she?

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  13. Congratulations! So jealous of Baby Z's wardrobe.

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  14. Congratulations! She is just the sweetest little thing. You can tell she's totally going to be a Daddy's girl, and there's nothing wrong with that!

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  15. Congrats to you guys!!(And to you especially for making it through -- I had a similar labor, but let's not revisit that). And welcome to Baby Z to the Cartoonist Baby club!! It's a growing group, she'll have playmates at every con!

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  16. YAY! She's so beautiful! What a lucky little girl to have you two as parents. :)

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  17. You made a beautiful babe, Mikhaela!! Glad to hear you're doing well. The journey from here on out is crazy and wonderful; have fun!!

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  18. Congratulations Mikhaela and Masheka! Z is a lovely girl!

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  19. CONGRATULATIONS! You are a Queen for going through your 60 hour labour. She is an absolutely beautiful girl!

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  20. YAY FAMILY!!!!
    Blessings on you ALL and especially for the Mama. labor is enough and when it's that long... be gentle with yourself and stay home and heal. blessings on your nursers too!
    WAY TO GO!!!

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  21. Oh Mikhaela! She is adorable. You are a magnificent cartoonist but she will be your best production, I'm sure. I can't imagine the labor, but some day when she's being particularly independent you will remember how she made the final decision about when to show up and took her own sweet time. Don't stop posting pix and sending links. It's a joy to see.

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  22. Congratulations! She is adorable. She looks like you (has your mouth I think) but in that second picture the face she's making totally looks like Masheka. I can't believe you were in labor for 5 days. I have to say you look pretty good for someone who went through that! Glad it all went well even if it took a while. Seems like Baby Z likes to do things at her own pace! :) Again, congratulations on a beautiful baby!

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  23. She's beautiful! Congratulations.

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  24. She is SO beautiful! Look at all that hair! Wow. :D
    Congratulations - and enjoy your time as a new tiny family. :)

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  25. Congratulations! And that was one long long labor - I hope you get over it well. :-)

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  26. Congratulations! Baby Z is soo cute!

    Five days of labor? Wow! *you* look wonderful, too.

    Rose in SV

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  27. OMG! She's absolutely beautiful!!! Super big congratulations to you all!

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  28. Congratulations to you and Masheka! She is so, so beautiful and precious. Happiness to you all!

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  29. Congratulations to you and your family! She's beautiful!

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  30. Congratulations! What a beautiful little baby, how very exciting!

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  31. Congratulations! I've been watching my reader carefully, hoping your silence was due to some great news. And the news was not only great but beautiful! Baby Z is gorgeous.

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  32. Congratulations!!!! Z is just gorgeous, and you look fantastic and so bright eyed after 5 days of labor! I'm wishing you lots of good sleep and that your hearts are filled with love that will make up for the times that you aren't sleeping.

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  33. Awwwwwwwwwww...!!! She's adorable! Mazeltov!

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  34. Congratulations on the birth of your beautiful baby girl! She certainly made a grand entrance into the world. Enjoy much health and happiness as a family.

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  35. She is SO ADORABLE! Congratulations!!!!!

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  36. Welcome to the world, Baby Z! Congratulations Mikhaela and Masheka, and thank you for sharing your adventures with us!

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  37. Welcome BABY Z!!! Congrats to the new parents, she's so beautiful and wee.

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  38. What a cutie! Congratulations, and enjoy!

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  39. Congrats! Congrats! Congrats! Welcome Baby Z!

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  40. Baby Z is GORGEOUS! I love the second picture with her beautiful eyes opened up and adorable little lips. lol.

    Congrats to you both! Get the small minutes of rest while you can and enjoy the entire experience.

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  41. Congratulations! You look wonderful. I would never guess that you are sleep-deprived. Just hang in there. It gets better. Little Z is beautiful!!

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  42. Congratulations!!! SO happy for all three of you!

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  43. Congrats on Baby Z finally entering the world!

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  44. Congratulations you three. She is soooooooo beautiful. Welcome to this worls baby Z. I hope all goes well and we get to see many sewing projects for baby Z and her mummy.
    Lots of love
    Bea

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  45. Oh Congrats she's so beautiful and you looked amazing for a five day labor! Seriously great way to make a pregnant mama cry showing off Baby Z in all her cuteness!

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  46. Congratulations and welcome baby Z. She is adorable, a doll.

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  47. Congratulations!! She's beautiful!

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  48. I was so excited to see this post, even though we don't even know each other!! She really is beautiful, and you are so lucky to have such an involved dad! She will have great role models! Sorry about that long labor- that sounds horrible!!! Mine was 2 hours, but I didn't get the drugs!! But I'm thinking yours must have been far worse!!

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  49. Congratulations! She is a gorgeous baby!

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  50. She's beautiful! Congratulations!

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  51. She is beautiful....not that you need to be told that! Congratulations! Sorry for the rough labor...my longest was 7 hours, so I've been pretty lucky.

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  52. She is beautiful....not that you need to be told that! Congratulations! Sorry for the rough labor...my longest was 7 hours, so I've been pretty lucky.

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  53. Mazel Tov! She is absolutely adorable and you all look very happy and healthy. I was thrilled to see the news- I have followed your blog and sewing on PR. I am two weeks away from my due date with my little girl and can't wait!

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  54. Congratulations! She is gorgeous, and despite what you say about the long labour, you look fantastic. I am 10.5 weeks off my due date and have been watching your progress with much interest. You have both made a gorgeous little person!

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  55. We figured that was what was up, but 5 days, ouch! She's adorable.. Zoe? Zenobia? Zahar! Congratulations :-).

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  56. yayyy! She's utterly, utterly perfect! Congratulations!

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  57. Had to come out of hiding to say what a lovely, most adorable baby girl...Congrats!

    I love the uniqueness of the letter Z...perhaps Zuri or Zora...I am sure the name is as lovely as she is.

    :)

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  58. Welcome baby Z! So much hair on that little girl, adorable.

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  59. Such a beautiful family! Baby Z is gorgeous! Congratulations!

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  60. Congratulations! There's nothing like gazing in adoration at your firstborn. Wonderful to have a devoted dad in the mix, too. Yes, your primary job is getting the breastfeeding off to a great start - enjoy the many hours of staring at a sleeping baby.

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  61. Congratulations! Looking forward to meeting Z at sewing circle one of these days!

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  62. She is adorable! Congratulations!

    okay, back to lurking...

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  63. I was so relieved to see this post. SO glad everyone is doing splendid.

    Congrads!

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  64. What a sweet face! Enjoy your little one, they do grow oh so fast! Congratulations!

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  65. Good job, momma! What a scrumptious little girl, I love the pic of her in the Green Goblin cover. So sweet. I'm sorry about your long labor, never fun, but so worth it. I hope you, baby, and daddy are getting plenty of rest.

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  66. MAZEL TOV!!!! THRILLED for you, dearie!!! -- E.J.

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  67. Congratulations!!! The three of you are just awesome, and baby Z: AAAAWWWWW :)
    Best wishes to you all!
    Neža

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  68. She is GORGEOUS. I'm super jealous of all the staring you're getting to do. Enjoy it! :)

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  69. After 5 days of labor you DESERVE an easy baby...hope she is - she looks soooooo adorable!
    Congratulations!

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